Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the CGST officials and the commissioner of Central excise and service tax not to take coercive steps against the directors of the three private companies known as front companies floated by Sujana Industrial Group on the charges leveled against them for claiming input tax credit through fake invoices.
The vacation bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther was dealing with petitions of three companies of Hyderabad namely BRS Enterprises and Trading Ltd, Bharani Commodities Pvt Ltd, and VS Ferrous Enterprises Pvt Ltd, challenging the constitutional validity of the powers that the GST Act bestowed on its officials to arrest the accused.
The court, while giving relief to the petitioners by directing authorities to not take coercive action against them till May 29, issued notices to the Union finance ministry, commissioner of Central excise and service tax, Hyderabad and the GST superintendent (anti-evasion).
At the same time, the bench made it clear that investigation can be carried out against the petitioners and that the petitioners were bound to co-operate with the investigative authorities.
The three companies that approached the high court on Wednesday are all situated at Nagarjuna Hills, Punjagutta, Hyder-abad. Coincidentally, more companies, also situated in the same premises, have previously approached the court on similar grounds.
