Property of a person who is not a 'taxable person' cannot be attached under Section 83 CGST Act: Delhi High Court

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In  the case of (Roshni Jaiwal vs CCT), The Delhi High Court has ruled that under Section 83 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, the authorities cannot attach property including bank accounts of persons who are not "taxable persons".

 The order was passed in a petition preferred by a former director of the company facing investigations under Section 67 of the Act.

The petitioner was also a shareholder in the company and presently associated with it as a "mentor".
The petition was directed against orders by Commissioner of Central taxes, GST, which provisionally attached several banks accounts of the petitioner.

The Court first held the writ petition under Article 226 to be maintainable, ruling that availability of an alternate remedy will not be a bar to entertain the plea.

"The fact that an alternate remedy is available to a litigant is a self-imposed limitation on the Court. The Court can and should exercise its powers, under Article 226 of the Constitution, amongst others, in cases where the impugned action or order concerned is without jurisdiction," the Court said.
The Court noted that sub-section 1 of Section 83, in no uncertain terms provide that provisional attachment could be ordered only concerning the property, including bank account, belonging to "taxable person".