GST officers not required to submit final report under CRPC after arrest: HC

Case Details: Paritosh Kumar Singh Alias Diwakar Choudhary v. State of Chhattisgarh - [2021] 131 taxmann.com 53 (Chhattisgarh)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Narendra Kumar Vyas, J.
  • B.P. Sharma, Adv. and D.P. Singh for the Petitioner. 
  • Manish Sharma, Adv. for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioners were arrested for offence committed under sections 132(1) (b) of CGST Act, 2017. They were produced before Judicial Magistrate, from where they were sent to judicial custody. They submitted application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Raipur on the ground that as final report had not been submitted by the GST officers, they were entitled to get benefit of default bail under section 167(2) of Cr. PC Act. The application was denied and the revision was also preferred which was also dismissed. They filed writ petition against the same.

High Court Held

The honorable High Court observed that an officer of the Central Tax authorized under Section 69(1) of CGST Act to arrest a person is not a police officer. Since GST officers were not police officers and therefore, they were not required to submit final report as envisaged in section 173 of Cr. PC Act. Thus, it was held that the contention of petitioners for grant of default bail under section 167(2) for non-furnishing of final report was rejected and thus, petitioners were not entitled to get default bail.