Gujarat High Court Restrains Authorities From Detaining Traders Under PASA For Tax Discrepancies

Gujarat High Court Restrains Authorities From Detaining Traders Under PASA For Tax Discrepancies

The Court observed that when the State on the whole and the economy, in particular, is trying to regain the momentum post-COVID, such hanging sword situation cannot be permitted to continue

The Gujarat High Court has restrained the State Authorities from resorting to the option of detention under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2021 (PASA) for tax-related discrepancies.

A single-judge court of Justice Paresh Upadhyay in the High Court of Gujarat dealt with the matter titled Amitkumar Rameshbhai Patel & Ors v State Of Gujarat & Ors.

Multiple petitions were filed by the Petitioners because they were apprehending detention in connection with the complaint filed by the State Tax Department under different sub-sections of Section 132 of the Gujarat Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code.

The issue involved in this matter was whether a sword of detention under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2021 (PASA) could be kept hanging over the head of the trader community in the cases of discrepancies in GST.

There was no response or arguments by the Respondent – State Authorities but it was stated in their affidavits that no proposal was made to detain the Petitioners under PASA so far.

The Court noted that a sword was kept hanging over the heads of the traders by observing the following:

"Citizen cannot be left in lurch like this. Further, when the State on the whole and the economy in particular is trying to regain the momentum post COVID, such hanging sword situation cannot be permitted to continue."

The Court further observed that State Authorities could not be permitted to resort to stringent provisions like detention under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2021 against the Petitioners.

Therefore, the petitions were allowed by the Court by restraining the State Authorities from resorting to the option of detention against the Petitioners in these cases.