Attachment of Bank Accounts — Section 83 of the CGST Act— The Applicant prayed for quashing of the order dated 29.07.2020, provisionally attaching the bank account. The DGGI visited the premises of the petitioner on 27.07.2020 and on 30.07.2020, the respondent sent an e-mail that its bank account has been provisionally attached under Section 83. The petitioner submitted that the order of provisional attachment has been passed under Section 83 on account of launching of the proceedings under section 67, the proceedings under section 67 have already been over and no proceedings either under Section 63 or Section 74 have been initiated so far, therefore, the attachment order passed under Section 83 has become redundant. The petitioner relied upon a decision of the Gujarat High Court in the case of Kushal Ltd. Vs. Union of India; 2019-VIL-619-GUJ [2019] 19 TAXLOK.COM 059 (Gujarat). The Court observed that the effect of Section 83 shall come to an end as soon as the proceedings pending in any of the aforesaid Sections i.e. 63 or 64 or 67 or 73 or 74 are over because pendency of the proceedings is the sine qua non.
Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court allowed the petition and set aside the orders when the proceedings initiated under Section 67 of the Act has already been over and directed the respondents to release the bank account forthwith which has been provisionally attached vide order dated 29.07.2020.—UFV India Global Education Vs. Union of India And Others [2020] 28 TAXLOK.COM 019 (P&H)