The Patna High Court has fined a GST officer £5,000 for illegally recovering the full tax amount from National Insurance Company's regional office. This occurred despite the company having made a statutory deposit while awaiting a functional GST tribunal. The court has ordered the refund of the unlawfully recovered £42 crore within two weeks.
Introduction
The Patna High Court has imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 on a Goods and Services Tax (GST) officer for engaging in forcible and illegal recovery of the entire tax amount from an individual awaiting the statutory remedy of appeal before the non-functional GST tribunal in Bihar. The court, presided over by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Rajiv Roy, issued the order on Thursday while granting relief to the National Insurance Companys Patna regional office. The court further
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FAQ :
The GST officer was penalised for engaging in 'forcible and illegal recovery' of the entire tax amount from an individual, even though statutory remedies were pending.
The penalty imposed on the GST officer was £5,000.
The total amount of tax recovered illegally was approximately £42 crore.
The court has directed the state commercial taxes department to refund the unlawfully recovered tax amount within a fortnight (two weeks).
The GST tribunal in Bihar is currently non-functional, which has led to challenges for assessees. The court had previously allowed a 20% deposit in lieu of the tribunal being operational.
The case highlights the challenges due to the absence of a functional GST tribunal and underscores the need for fair and lawful tax recovery procedures, setting a precedent against coercive measures by tax officials.