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TMI Blog2023 (10) TMI 856X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Case No. 2668 of 2023 - - - GST - Jurisdiction - proper officer to issue summons and conduct inquiry - Seeking direction for inquiry to be proceeded with and summons issued by the other, directed to be stayed till the conclusion of the first of such initiated proceedings - inquiry conducted by a 'Proper Officer' as authorized under the Act, who is entitled to proceed under both the State and Central Goods and Services Tax enactments - Revenue seeks for continuation of the proceedings initiated by the various authorities. HELD THAT:- In the present case, there are, at present, proceedings initiated by the State Tax Authorities and the Central Tax Authorities and as we noticed, the first of such proceedings was initiated by the Cent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... OI : Dr. K. N. Singh, ASG Mr. Anshuman Singh, Sr. SC, CGST CX Mr. Shivaditya Dhari Sinha, Advocate JUDGMENT ( Per : HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE ) The petitioner herein an assessee under the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (for brevity BGST Act ) is aggrieved with the notices issued by two different Tax Authorities, which has resulted in simultaneous proceedings for the identical assessment years. The petitioner s contention is only that the first of such inquiry be directed to be proceeded with and summons issued by the other, directed to be stayed till the conclusion of the first of such initiated proceedings, especially since the inquiry is conducted by a 'Proper Officer' as authorized under the Act, who is entitled to pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... signment does not interdict either of the said Officers from initiating an inquiry against the particular assessee inter alia in intelligence based enforcement actions. 4. Section 6 of the Central and State GST enactments achieves the goal of harmonizing the cross enforcement of the Central Tax Officers and State Tax Officers. Section 6 of the CGST Act provides for the Officers under the State GST and Union Territory GST enactments to be authorized as the 'Proper Officer' for the purpose of the CGST Act. Likewise, the State and Union Territory GST enactments also provide for the officers appointed under the Central GST Act to be authorized to function as 'Proper Officer' under the State Union Territory GST enactment. Section ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... de recommendations regarding administrative division of taxpayers and concomitant issues. The recommendation in relation to cross-empowerment of both tax authorities for enforcement of intelligence based action is recorded at para 28 of Agenda note no. 3 in the minutes of the meeting which reads as follows :- viii. Both the Central and State tax administrations shall have the power to take intelligence-based enforcement action in respect of the entire value chain 3. It is accordingly clarified that the officers of both Central tax and State tax are authorized to initiate intelligence based enforcement action on the entire taxpayer's base irrespective of the administrative assignment of the taxpayer to any authority. The authority which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h is produced as Annexure-1 refers to the financial year 2017-18 and directed the production of accounts, records and documents for the purpose of carrying on the audit. The petitioner submits that he had produced the entire details before the State Officer when he was issued with another notice dated 07.09.2022, Annexure-2, by the Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Patna Zonal Unit, Patna; which was dated 07.09.2022. This was a notice under Section 70 of the CGST Act which directed the attendance of the petitioner and production of documents as specified in Annexure-A of the notice, which refers to the financial years 2017-18 to 2021-22. The assessee was then confronted with yet another notice dated 30.09 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ntext neither Section 6(2)(b) nor the circular dated 05.06.2018 has any application. 9. In the present case, there are, at present, proceedings initiated by the State Tax Authorities and the Central Tax Authorities and as we noticed, the first of such proceedings was initiated by the Central Tax Authority, having issued summons under Section 70 of the CGST Act. The proceeding issued by the Central Tax Authority is for the assessment years 2017-18 to 2021-22 while the State Tax Authority has initiated audit for the year 2017-18. 10. The learned Government Advocate had produced before us the judgment of a co-ordinate Bench of this Court (authored by myself) wherein the simultaneous proceedings were directed to be continued. Therein, the summo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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