Debiting of account without permission amounts to gross abuse of power

Case Details: Pradeep Kumar Siddha v. Union of India - [2022] 141 taxmann.com 538 (Bombay)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • K.R. Shriram & Milind N. Jadhav, JJ.
  • Brijesh Pathak for the Petitioner.
  • Ms. S.V. Bharucha, Ruju Thakkar, Vivek S. Sawant & Sanjay Prakash Mathur for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The GST department wrote letter to the bank of the petitioner for freezing his bank account and the amount of Rs. 62,32,400/- was transferred by the bank to department by way of RTGS. The petitioner filed writ petition against the action by the department and submitted that no communication was made by the department and directly instructions to debit the amount had been given to bank to transfer the amount to the account of GST authorities.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court observed that debiting of account without permission or debiting and not informing about same would amount to gross abuse of power. Moreover, the freezing of accounts without even considering it necessary to inform taxpayers is nothing but misuse of position and amounts to harassment of such taxpayers. Therefore, the department was directed to deposit amount debited with the Registrar of Court failing which contempt notice may be issued. Also, the authority concerned was directed to give explanation as to under what authority of law such debiting of bank account was carried on.