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2023 (1) TMI 1350 - HC - GSTRequirement to make pre-deposit - bank account of petitioner is frozen - HELD THAT - The Court directs that limited to the amount required for making the predeposit one of the bank accounts of the Petitioner i.e. its account with State Bank of India (SBI) which stands attached in form of a letter dated 15th July 2022 addressed to the Bank by the Additional CT and GST Officer Keonjhar (Annexure-2) shall remain lifted. In other words the SBI will permit the Petitioner to operate the said bank account only for the purposes of withdrawing the pre-deposit amount and for nothing else. Once that withdrawal is done the attachment of the said account will continue and will be subject to the further orders that may be passed by the Appellate Authority in accordance with law. In explaining the delay in filing the appeal it will be open to the Petitioner to cite the pendency of the present petition as the reason and that will be considered in accordance with law by the Appellate Authority. The Court clarifies that it has not expressed any view in the matter. Petition disposed off.
Issues:
1. Inability to avail appellate remedy under GST Act due to frozen bank accounts. Analysis: The petitioner, represented by Mr. B. Panda, Advocate, brought forth the issue of being unable to pursue the appellate remedy under the GST Act against the impugned assessment order due to the freezing of their bank accounts. It was highlighted that without access to their bank accounts, the petitioner was unable to make the necessary predeposit amount. In response, the Court, comprising THE CHIEF JUSTICE DR. S. MURALIDHAR AND JUSTICE M.S. RAMAN, directed that one of the petitioner's bank accounts with the State Bank of India (SBI) should be allowed to operate solely for the purpose of withdrawing the predeposit amount. This decision was made in consideration of a letter dated 15th July, 2022, addressed to the bank by the Additional CT and GST Officer, Keonjhar, which had previously attached the said account. The Court specified that once the withdrawal for the predeposit was completed, the attachment of the account would resume, subject to any further orders from the Appellate Authority. Furthermore, the Court acknowledged the delay in filing the appeal and clarified that the petitioner could attribute this delay to the pendency of the present petition. The Court emphasized that this reason for delay would be taken into account by the Appellate Authority in accordance with the law. Importantly, the Court explicitly stated that it had not expressed any view on the matter. Subsequently, the writ petition was disposed of, and the Registry was instructed to promptly send a copy of the order to the Branch Manager of the State Bank of India, Andapur, Keonjhar, for necessary compliance.
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