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TMI Blog2023 (7) TMI 1008X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lause (b) or Clause(c) or Clause (d) of sub-Section (1) of Section 132 which is punishable under clause (i) or (ii) or sub-section (1) or sub5 Section (2) of the said Section. This Court in UNION OF INDIA VERSUS PADAM NARAIN AGGARWAL ETC. [ 2008 (10) TMI 1 - SUPREME COURT] made it very clear that ordinarily the Court should not impose any condition before effecting arrest. If any conditions are imposed before effecting arrest for instance giving prior intimation to the person concerned etc., the statutory provisions would be rendered ineffective, nugatory and meaningless. The position of law is that if any person is summoned under Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017 for the purpose of recording of his statement, the provisions of Section 438 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1908 cannot be invoked - as no First Information Report gets registered before the power of arrest under Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 is invoked and in such circumstances, the person summoned cannot invoke Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for anticipatory bail. The only way a person summoned can seek protection against the pre-trial arrest is to invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the summons, the respondents apprehended arrest at the end of the concerned officials of the Department. 7. In such circumstances as referred to above, two writ applications came to be filed before the High Court being Special Criminal Application Nos. 11010 of 2018 and 11076 of 2018 resply. Both the writ applications came to be disposed by a common order dated 24.12.2018. The relevant part of the impugned order reads thus:- 7. Considering the voluntary nature of pleadings where the petitioners are desirous of getting themselves assisted by the adjudicatory process, let them represent their case before the concerned authority. The authority concerned shall complete the same in 8 weeks time and if there is a need for any apprehension after once the adjudicatory process is completed, if they are not ready to fulfill their obligation, they may be given an opportunity of two more weeks for taking necessary steps. Petitioners shall appear on or before 11/01/2019 before the concerned Police Station. In view of the above, the present applications stand disposed of. Direct service is permitted. 8. The State of Gujarat being dissatisfied with the aforesaid order passed by the High Court is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... effecting arrest for instance giving prior intimation to the person concerned etc., the statutory provisions would be rendered ineffective, nugatory and meaningless. 15. What is important are the observations made in paragraphs 44 and 45 resply of the decision of this Court in the case of Padam Narain Aggarwal (supra), which read thus:- 44. In the case on hand, the respondents were only summoned under Section 108 of the Act for recording of their statements. The High Court was conscious and mindful of that fact. It, therefore, held that the applications for anticipatory bail, in the circumstances, were premature. They were, accordingly, disposed of by directing the respondents to appear before the Customs Authorities. The Court, however, did not stop there. It stated that even if the Customs Authorities find any non-bailable offence against the applicants (the respondents herein), they shall not be arrested without ten days prior notice to them. 45. In our judgment, on the facts and in the circumstances of the present case, neither of the above directions can be said to be legal, valid or in consonance with law. Firstly, the order passed by the High Court is a blanket one as held b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for anticipatory bail and the writ of mandamus directing an officer not to effect arrest. A writ of mandamus would lie only to compel the performance of the statutory or other duties. No writ of mandamus would lie to prevent an officer from performing his statutory function. When a writ application is filed before the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution, the writ court owes a duty to examine the fact of the case and ascertain whether the case of the writ applicant falls under the category of exceptional cases as indicated in Kartar Singh (supra). The writ court should also ensure whether by issuing the writ of mandamus, it would be preventing the competent authority or proper officer from performing any of their statutory functions. 18. In the aforesaid context, we may refer to a Division Bench decision of the High Court of Telangana which ultimately came to be affirmed by this Court in the Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 4430 of 2019 order dated 27.05.2019. We are referring to a decision in the case of P.V. Ramana Reddy Vs. Union of India Writ Petition Nos. 4764 of 2019 and allied petitions decided on 18th April, 2019. There are few important observations made by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns to the Officer carrying out the arrest, namely, to grant bail by himself or to forward the arrested person to the custody of the Magistrate, clause (b) confers the powers of an Officer incharge of a police station, upon the Deputy Commissioner or the Assistant Commissioner (GST), for the purpose of releasing an arrested person on bail, in the case of non-cognizable and bailable offences. 37. In other words, even though Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 does not confer any power upon the Commissioner to order the arrest of a person, who has committed an offence which is non-cognizable and bailable, sub-Section (3) of Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017 deals with the grant of bail, remand to custody and the procedure for grant of bail to a person accused of the commission of non-cognizable and bailable offences. Thus, there is some incongruity between sub-Sections (1) and (3) of Section 69 read with section 132 of the CGST Act, 2017. 38. Another difficulty with Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017 is that sub-Sections (1) and (2) of Section 69 which deal with the power of arrest and production before the Magistrate in the case of cognizable and nonbailable offences, do not use the phr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 32 (1) of CGST Act, 2017 as non-cognizable and bailable and (4) the reference to Sections 193 and 228 of IPC in Section 70(2) of the CGST Act, 2017. Therefore, the contention of learned Additional Solicitor General that in view of Section 69(3) of the CGST Act, 2017, the petitioners cannot fall back upon the limited protection against ar13 rest, found in Sections 41 and 41A of Cr.P.C., may not be correct. As pointed out earlier, Section 41-A was inserted in Cr.P.C. by Section 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2008. Under sub-Section (3) of Section 41A Cr.P.C., a person who complies with a notice for appearance and who continues to comply with the notice for appearance before the Summoning Officer, shall not be arrested. In fact, the duty imposed upon a Police Officer under Section 41A(1) Cr.P.C., to summon a person for enquiry in relation to a cognizable offence, is what is substantially ingrained in Section 70(1) of the CGST Act. Though Section 69(1) which confers powers upon the Commissioner to order the arrest of a person does not contain the safeguards that are incorporated in Section 41 and 41A of Cr.P.C., we think Section 70(1) of the CGST Act takes care of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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