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TMI Blog2021 (3) TMI 858X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r the reasons articulated therein. On 22.02.2021, the writ petition came up for hearing for the first time before this Court. A perusal of the said order shows that one of the issues which the Court had flagged was that issues raised in the instant writ petition overlapped with issues that had been raised by the petitioner in the writ petition filed before the Allahabad High Court. 1.1 Therefore, the Court had indicated to the learned counsel for the parties, on that date, that the best course of action, perhaps, would be that the petitioner be relegated to the Allahabad High Court. 1.2 It is in this context, the Court had called upon the learned counsel for the respondents, to take instructions, as to whether the respondents would ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch has been carried out not only by the Gautam Budh Nagar Commissionerate but also by various Intelligence Units, i.e., DGGI Regional Unit Kanpur, DGGI Zonal Unit Delhi, DGGI Regional Unit Ghaziabad and DGGI Ahmadabad Zonal Unit on various dates. 3.1 The details of these searches are given in the Panchnama drawn up on 13.02.2021 by the DGGI Ahmedabad Zonal Unit. Pertinently, this unit also carried out the search at the petitioner's premises located in Gautam Budh Nagar. (See pages 224 and 226 of the paper book.) 4. Ms. Manish says that repeated searches, not only by Gautam Budh Nagar Commissionerate, but also by other Intelligence Units, are completely oppressive and in fact, the most recent search carried out at the residential premises ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iles vs. Additional Director General, 2020 (35) G.S.T.L. 36 (Guj.)'. In addition thereto, Ms. Manish has also relied upon a judgment rendered in 'Himanshu Balram Gupta vs. Union of India 2020-TIOL-2241-HC-AHM-GST'. 5.2 On the issue concerning invasion of privacy, reliance was placed, once again, on the judgment of the Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court, rendered in 'Sureshbhai Gadhecha vs. State of Gujarat, R/Special Civil Application No. 23279 of 2019.' 6. On the other hand, Mr. Ravi Prakash, who appears on behalf of the respondents, says that the circular dated 05.10.2018, will have no application since the "subject matter" is different. In support of his plea, Mr. Ravi Prakash has relied upon the judgement of the Division Bench o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r hands. For this purpose, it would be necessary to extract the relevant portions of the circular dated 05.10.2018. "2. In this regard, GST Council in its 9th meeting held on 16.01.2017 had discussed and made 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 Centr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t rendered in 'Kaushal Kumar Mishra vs. Additional Director General, Ludhiana Zonal Unit and another', in this behalf, to our minds, does not help the cause of the respondents as there is no reference to the circular dated 05.10.2018 in the said judgement. As noted above, there have been continuous searches carried out not only at the business/factory premises of the petitioner but also at the residence of its proprietor since 19.03.2020. To be noted, no less than 10 searches have been carried out to date. 10. Therefore, while we are inclined to give time to the respondents to file their reply to the captioned application within next two weeks, for the moment, no coercive measures will be taken against the petitioner. If, in the interregnu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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