Attachment Order to Be Quashed as It Invoked Customs Act Provisions Whereas Tax Dues Pertained to Service Tax | HC

Case Details: Zest Buildtek Promotors v. Deputy Commissioner of GST & Central Excise - [2024] 163 taxmann.com 644 (Madras)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, J.
  • Vijay Narayan, Sr. Adv. & N. Viswanathan for the Petitioner.
  • Umesh Rao K., Sr. Standing Counsel for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner was a partnership firm engaged in the business of construction of residential properties on joint venture basis. It received a demand notice but no order was communicated by the department after the reply was issued. Thereafter, the recovery department issued attachment order and it filed writ petition to challenge the order since it was issued under Customs Act.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that the impugned attachment order was wrongly issued under Customs Act for recovery of service tax dues. The Court also noted that the petitioner didn’t receive a copy of the assessment order when the writ petition was filed and it would have been inappropriate for the petitioner to assail the assessment order without the leave of this Court.

Therefore, the Court directed the department to provide opportunity to file statutory appeal against assessment order and the petitioner was permitted to present a statutory appeal before the Appellate Authority. The Court also quashed the attachment order and restrained petitioner from alienating/encumbering attached property without appellate authority’s permission.