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TMI Blog2019 (6) TMI 55X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is also no bar in the U.P. Act on lodging an FIR under the Code for offences punishable under the Penal Code even though, for the same act/ conduct, prosecution can be launched under the U.P. Act. Rather, section 131 of the U.P. Act impliedly saves the provisions of the Penal Code by providing that no confiscation made or penalty imposed under the provisions of the Act or the rules made thereunder shall prevent the infliction of any other punishment to which the person affected thereby is liable under the provisions of the U.P. Act or under any other law for the time being in force. The argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner that except for offences specified in sub-section (5) of section 132, sub-section (4) of section 132 of the U.P. Act renders all offences under the U.P. Act non cognizable, therefore no FIR can be lodged, is not acceptable, because sub-section (4) speaks of offences under the U.P. Act and not in respect of offences under the Penal Code. It is noteworthy that section 135 of the U.P. Act makes a significant departure from general law by providing that in any prosecution for an offence under the U.P. Act, which requires a cuplable mental state on th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... For the Petitioner : Anil Prakash Mathur For the Respondent : G.A., C.B. Tripathi ORDER MANOJ MISRA, J. Instant petition seeks quashing of first information report (for short FIR), dated 30.11.2018, lodged by Assistant Commissioner, Commercial Tax at police station Kosi Kalan, District Mathura, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 34, 120-B IPC. The impugned FIR alleges that M/s Govind Enterprises (the petitioner) applied for registration under the U.P. Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (for short U.P. Act) to conduct business in packing material, by showing its place of business on the First Floor, N.H.-2, in front of Gate No.1, Anaj Mandi, Kosi Kalan, District Mathura. Upon which, on 09.03.2018, GST No.09CBIPA0305H1Z7 was provided to it. At the time of obtaining registration, the applicant disclosed its e-mail ID as [email protected] and mobile No.8533952295. Further, while applying for registration, it was declared that the office space for the firm was obtained on rent from Mahaveer Singh son of Ramesh Chandra at ₹ 1,000/- per month. The ren ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Ram Niwas Gurjar, who runs business by the name of Pitambar Transport. The team found that the shop concerned was just about 10 feet x 20 feet in dimensions and it appeared that it had not been opened for last several days. The team was also informed that since the time the premises had been taken on rent, only a truck load of goods had been received in which there were bundles of plastic films ( Panni ). When account books etc. were demanded, the team was informed that bills etc. were with the accountant who is at Mathura. The owner of the building was also queried who denied existence of any written agreement and who denied that it was given on rent to Govind Enterprises. He stated that only one month s rent had been paid so far, which was by Dharmendra Gurjar. The impugned FIR also alleges that at the time of registration, the firm had disclosed its bank account No.04672121008171 in Oriental Bank of Commerce, Mathura. It was alleged that since the time of registration, the firm had shown an inward supply of laminated papers valued ₹ 35,02,28,642/- whereas the outward supply was by two e-way bills of ₹ 1,64,334/- and 14,94,774/-. It was alleged that as, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d supply and passed on the goods to end users, without generating outward supply bills, received money in cash and deposited the same in bank account which was not declared at the time of seeking registration. Sri A.P. Mathur, learned counsel for the petitioner, submitted that till date, no case has been registered under the provisions of the U.P. Act or under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (for short Central Act) and no recovery demand has been raised and, therefore, lodging of the first information report under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code is not legally sustainable. It was submitted that the Goods and Services Tax Act is a complete code in itself as it contemplates and deals with all kinds of situations and offences relating to registration of firms, tax evasion etc and it prescribes a specific procedure for arrest and prosecution therefore lodging of the first information for offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code (for short Penal Code) by taking recourse to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short the Code) is not legally justified. By placing reliance on the provisions of Section 69 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h goods were found, rather cash deposits were discovered in undisclosed bank account, the dishonest intention of the petitioner is writ large. Hence, a case for registration of FIR in respect of commission of offences punishable under the Penal Code is made out. Therefore, neither the first information report nor investigation in pursuance thereof can be quashed. By placing reliance on the averments made in paragraphs 14 and 15 of the counter affidavit, of which there is no denial in paragraph 11 of the rejoinder affidavit, Sri Tripathi submitted that after serving a show cause notice dated 04.10.2018, vide order dated 23.10.2018, the registration of the petitioner has been canceled. Thereafter, the petitioner had filed application which was rejected vide order dated 13.12.2018. Sri Tripathi further submitted that in matters pertaining to economic fraud, it would not be appropriate for the Court to grant stay of arrest, particularly, where first information report discloses commission of cognizable offence, as such relief may thwart investigation and discovery of further information as to who all are involved in such activity. Sri Tripathi thus prayed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion or where he fails to pay to the Government the amount collected as tax under sub-section (3) of section 52; (vii) takes or utilizes input tax credit without actual receipt of goods or services or both either fully or partially, in contravention of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder; (viii) fraudulently obtains refund of tax under this Act; (ix) takes or distributes input tax credit in contravention of section 20, or the rules made thereunder; (x) falsifies or substitutes financial records or produces fake accounts or documents or furnishes any false information or return with an intention to evade payment of tax due under this Act; (xi) is liable to be registered under this Act but fails to obtain registration; (xii) furnishes any false information with regard to registration particulars, either at the time of applying for registration, or subsequently; (xiii) obstructs or prevents any officer in discharge of his duties under this Act; (xiv) transports any taxable goods without the cover of documents as may be specified in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng, supplying, or purchasing or in any other manner deals with any goods which he knows or has reasons to believe are liable to confiscation under this Act or the rules made thereunder; (c) receives or is in any way concerned with the supply of, or in any other manner deals with any supply of services which he knows or has reasons to believe are in contravention of any provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder; (d) fails to appear before the officer of central tax, when issued with a summon for appearance to give evidence or produce a document in an inquiry; (e) fails to issue invoice in accordance with the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder or fails to account for an invoice in his books of account, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to twenty-five thousand rupees. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the act of the petitioner for which the impugned FIR has been lodged is covered by various clauses of the provisions of Section 122 of U.P. Act and therefore at best a penalty could be imposed by taking recourse to the provisions of the U.P. Act. S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mission of any of the offences mentioned in clauses (a) to (k) of this section, shall be punishable (i) in cases where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds five hundred lakh rupees, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine; (ii) in cases where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds two hundred lakh rupees but does not exceed five hundred lakh rupees, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine; (iii) in the case of any other offence where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds one hundred lakh rupees but does not exceed two hundred lakh rupees, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and with fine; (iv) in cases where he commits or abets the commission of an offence specified in clause (f) or clause (g) or clause (j), he shall be punishable with imprison ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... person has committed any offence specified in clause (a) or clause (b) or clause (c) or clause (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 132 which is punishable under clause (i) or (ii) of sub-section (1), or sub-section (2) of the said section, he may, by order, authorise any officer of central tax to arrest such person. (2) Where a person is arrested under sub-section (1) for an offence specified under sub-section (5) of Section 132, the officer authorised to arrest the person shall inform such person of the grounds of arrest and produce him before a Magistrate within twenty-four hours. (3) Subject to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974),- (a) where a person is arrested under sub-section (1) for any offence specified under sub-section (4) of Section 132, he shall be admitted to bail or in default of bail, forwarded to the custody of the Magistrate; (b) in the case of a non-cognizable and bailable offence, the Deputy Commissioner or the Assistant Commissioner shall, for the purpose of releasing an arrested person on bail or otherwise, have the same powers and be subject to the same provision ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... when its existence is established by a preponderance of probability. Learned counsel for the Revenue submitted that the provisions of the U.P. Act do not in any manner override the provisions of the Penal Code or prohibit the applicability of the provisions of the Code in respect of offences punishable under the Penal Code. He submitted that offences punishable under the Penal Code are to be dealt with as per provisions of the Code whereas offences punishable under the U.P. Act are required to be dealt with in a manner which does not violate the procedure specified for them in the U.P. Act. It was submitted that for offences punishable under the U.P. Act, by virtue of Section 135 of the U.P. Act, there is a presumption of culpable mental state whereas for offences punishable under the Penal Code there is no such presumption available to the prosecution therefore the offences punishable under the Penal Code are qualitatively different from those punishable under the U.P. Act even though an act may constitute an offence punishable under both the Acts, namely, Penal Code and U.P. Act. Having noticed the submissions and the relevant provisions cited, bef ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (emphasis supplied) Section 300 CrPC provides, inter alia,- 300. (1) A person who has once been tried by a court of competent jurisdiction for an offence and convicted or acquitted of such offence shall, while such conviction or acquittal remains in force, not be liable to be tried again for the same offence, nor on the same facts for any other offence for which a different charge from the one made against him might have been made under sub-section (1) of Section 221, or for which he might have been convicted under sub-section (2) thereof. (emphasis supplied) Both the provisions employ the expression same offence . 10. Section 71 IPC provides- 71. Where anything which is an offence is made up of parts, any of which parts is itself an offence, the offender shall not be punished with the punishment of more than one of such of his offences, unless it be so expressly provided. Where anything is an offence falling within two or more separate definitions of any law in force for the time being by which offences are defined or punished, or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... provisions of the Penal Code, 1860. In other words, the question for consideration was whether the provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act explicitly or impliedly exclude the provisions of the Penal Code when the act of an accused is an offence both under the Penal Code and under the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. Deciding the issue, the apex court held as follows: 61. Reading the provisions of the Act minutely and carefully, prima facie we are of the view that there is no complete and absolute bar in prosecuting persons under the Penal Code where the offences committed by persons are penal and cognizable offence. 62. Sub-section (1-A) of Section 4 of the MMDR Act puts a restriction in transporting and storing any mineral otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the Rules made thereunder. In other words no person will do mining activity without a valid lease or licence. Section 21 is a penal provision according to which if a person contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1-A) of Section 4, he shall be prosecuted and punished in the manner and procedure provided i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ubmitted by the police alleging contravention of the said Act. In other words, the prohibition contained in Section 22 of the Act against prosecution of a person except on a complaint made by the officer is attracted only when such person is sought to be prosecuted for contravention of Section 4 of the Act and not for any act or omission which constitutes an offence under the Penal Code. 71. However, there may be a situation where a person without any lease or licence or any authority enters into river and extracts sand, gravel and other minerals and remove or transport those minerals in a clandestine manner with an intent to remove dishonestly those minerals from the possession of the State, is liable to be punished for committing such offence under Sections 378 and 379 of the Penal Code. 72. From a close reading of the provisions of the MMDR Act and the offence defined under Section 378 IPC, it is manifest that the ingredients constituting the offence are different. The contravention of terms and conditions of mining lease or doing mining activity in violation of Section 4 of the Act is an offence punishable under Section 21 o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be prosecuted for an offence punishable under the Penal Code for which a proceeding can also be drawn under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act. By relying upon the decision of the Apex Court in State of Rajasthan Vs. Hat Singh (supra) and State of Delhi (NCT) Vs. Sanjay (supra) , the apex court, in paragraphs 7 and 8 of the judgment, held as follows:- 7. There is no bar to a trial or conviction of an offender under two different enactments, but the bar is only to the punishment of the offender twice for the offence. Where an act or an omission constitutes an offence under two enactments, the offender may be prosecuted and punished under either or both enactments but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same offence. The same set of facts, in conceivable cases, can constitute offences under two different laws. An act or an omission can amount to and constitute an offence under the IPC and at the same time, an offence under any other law. The High Court ought to have taken note of Section 26 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 which reads as follows: Provisions as to offences punishable under two or more enactments ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The Bureau of Investigation of Government of West Bengal conducted discreet investigation and found that the accused had committed forgery and impersonation to defraud sales tax amount. The complaint was presented by the Assistant Commissioner, Commercial Tax to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, who was attached to the Bureau of Investigation formed under the Sales Tax Act. The Deputy Superintendent, in turn, forwarded the complaint to the officer in-charge of police station with a request to investigate the matter for offences punishable under Sections 403, 409, 465, 468, 471, 419, 420 read with 120-B IPC and the provisions of the Sales Tax Act. Pursuant to the request, the first information report was registered. Upon registration of the first information report, the accused invoked the powers of the High Court for quashing the first information report. The High Court quashed the first information report by expressing its opinion that under the Sales Tax Act only Bureau of Investigation constituted by the State Government can conduct the investigation or hold inquiry into any case of alleged or suspected evasion of tax as well as malpractices kept therein and he ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e lodged, is not acceptable, because sub-section (4) speaks of offences under the U.P. Act and not in respect of offences under the Penal Code. It is noteworthy that section 135 of the U.P. Act makes a significant departure from general law by providing that in any prosecution for an offence under the U.P. Act, which requires a cuplable mental state on the part of the accused, the court shall presume the existence of such mental state. The same does not hold true for offences punishable under the Penal Code. Hence, to prove mensrea , which is one of the necessary ingredients of an offence punishable under the Penal Code, the standard of proof would have to be higher to prove commission of an offence punishable under the Penal Code than what would be required to prove an offence punishable under the U.P. Act. As such, the offences punishable under the Penal Code are qualitatively different from an offence punishable under the U.P. Act. In view of the reasons recorded above, and by keeping in mind the provisions of Section 26 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 as also the law laid down by the apex court in that regard, which we have noticed above, we are of the consider ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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