Section 171 of the CGST Act, 2017— Anti- Profiteering – The DGAP submitted its report and concluded that the benefit of additional ITC to the tune of 5.05% of the turnover, has accrued to the Respondent post-GST and the same was required to be passed on by the Respondent to his recipients. Provisions of Section 171 of the Act have been contravened by the Respondent. The authority found no reason to differ from the detailed computation of profiteering in the DGAP's Report or the methodology adopted and found that the benefit of additional ITC of 5.05% of the turnover has accrued to the Respondent, which was required to be passed on to the recipients.

Held that:- The Hon’ble Anti-Profiteering Authority directed the amount the profiteering amount along with the interest @ 18% shall be paid/passed on by the Respondent within a period of 3 months. The respondent has committed an offence under Section 171 (3A) and therefore, he is liable for imposition of penalty under the provisions of the above Section. However, since the provisions of Section 171 (3A) have come into force w.e.f 01.01.2020 and hence, was not in force during the period of investigation i.e. from 01.07.2017 to 30.09.2019, when the Respondent had committed the above violation and hence the penalty prescribed under Section 171 (3A) cannot be imposed on the Respondent retrospectively.