• Notification Date: 09-05-2022
• Notification No: N/A

Form GST DRC-16 Does Not Attach Immovable Properties

The Madras High Court bench consisting of Justice C. Saravanan has arrived to the conclusion that Form GST DRC-16 hardly attaches immovable properties or any bank accounts. The assessees are only interested in lingering the proceedings, although being in arrears of huge amount of tax.

The petitioner had filed a writ petition earlier against this order passed by the GST department for AY 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020. On discussing this case on merits, the High Court judge has instructed the petitioner to pay a sum of Rs.3,00,000 for each of the assessment orders that has been issued on or before 5 January, 2021. On paying the said amount by the petitioner, the orders will be discarded. The sum has been remitted back to the respondent and he has been asked to pass new orders on merits. The petitioner has been provided with the opportunity to raise objections as per the law. He has been granted a personal hearing by the court within 12 weeks from the date of issuing the conditional amount as proposed by the High Court.

The petitioner took another chance before the Division Bench. He did not comply with the orders passed by the Madras High Court. The petition has been discarded by a common order by the Division Bench. It has been disposed of since the petitioner has the option to go before the authorities. The single Justice of the High Court had put the matter on hold and revert it back to respondent. The order passed by him has been confirmed by the Division Bench on the earlier occasion dating back to 25 March, 2021.

As per the statement of the petitioner, the respondent had issued the notice for attachment in spite of the order passed by the Court. The respondent had issued notice for attachment sand for the sale of the immovable property under Section 79 of the GST Act, 2017 via Form GST DRC-16. He has attached various properties to the attachment notice.     

The petitioner received orders to appear before the respondent for a personal hearing on 25 February, 2022 but he failed to do so. The petitioner now claims for a stay order on Form GST DRC-16 issued on 20 Nov, 2021.

The court has quashed the appeal of the petitioner and has ordered the respondent to carry on with the terms of the notice issued on 14 February, 2022. The Court has ordered the respondent to put an end to this case on the instructions of the single Judge of the Madras High Court. The Division Bench has confirmed that the matter should get resolved within 3 months as per the order of the High Court single Judge. The decisions regarding the sale of immovable property or on the attachment of bank accounts will be taken as per the final outcome of the proceedings that have been decided as per the notice issued on 14 February, 2022.