The Gauhati High Court granted bail to the person alleged of selling Coal without issuing GST invoices.
The petitioner, Vikas Bansal submitted that whatever coal he had purchased from Coal Importers of Gujarat and Punjab were sold within the State of Punjab and Haryana to various small manufacturers without issuing GST invoices and such transactions were not reflected in the books of accounts although a part of such sale of coal in Punjab and Haryana was done under proper GST. The purchase documents covering the goods supplied/sold in Punjab and Haryana without issuance of GST invoices were used for generating fake GST invoices issued in the name of M/s Bansal Associates, Guwahati and to various other customers directly which includes Amit Kumar also without supply of any goods covered under such invoices.
Mr. D. Sahu, counsel for the accused-petitioner has submitted that the petitioner has been fully cooperating with the investigation of the case and no further custody of the petitioner has been sought for by the CGST authority for the purpose of further investigation of the case. It has further been submitted that the co-accused of this accused-petitioner have been granted default bail by the learned court below in connected cases as the complainant/CGST authority failed to complete the investigation and lay offence report within the statutory period of 60 days.
The single judge bench of Justice Hitesh Kumar Sharma held that there is no indication that the petitioner, if granted bail, is likely to evade the trial or there is an apprehension of his tampering with the witnesses. On the other hand, this Court has also taken note of the fact that being a resident of the State of Assam, there is every possibility of securing his presence at the time of trial. The maximum punishment which can be imposed in this case is imprisonment for 5 years and fine, and as such, the severity of punishment which conviction will entail has also been taken into consideration.
The court directed that the accused-petitioner to be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 1,00,000/- with two suitable sureties of the like amount, to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metro), Guwahati.
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