The Bombay High Court directed the Authority to unfreeze the bank account of Boxster Impex and complete the investigation within 3 months.
The Petitioner, M/s Boxster Impex Pvt. Ltd buys handicraft items from various sellers in India for the purpose of export out of India. Petitioner has paid Goods and Services Tax (GST) while purchasing the goods; petitioner has also ensured that the sellers are registered with GST authorities too and have paid GST.
The petitioner contended that it was entitled to take input credit or refund under Section 16 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 when the goods are exported out of India by the petitioner. Petitioner has complied with all the requirements of the said Act and therefore, entitled to refund.
Since the year 2018 the bank account of the petitioner has been frozen; besides, the refund claim of IGST has not been entertained for more than one year. That apart, an alert has been put on the IEC of the petitioner as a result of which its business has come to a standstill.
The petitioner stated that unfreezing of the frozen bank account of the petitioner would cause huge loss to the department.
The department stated that by his activities Mr.Uzair Basar has created a complex maze of various fictitious firms to defraud government revenue for which detailed investigation needs to be carried out. However, Mr.Uzair Basar has not cooperated with the investigation for which investigation could not be completed on priority basis. That apart, ownership of the goods has not yet been established.
In so far claim to IGST and other dues are concerned, it is stated that Mr.Uzair Basar has already obtained benefits to the tune of Rs.9.86 crores fraudulently.
Petitioner is a fake entity which has never presented itself before the department to evade scrutiny. The affiant has described the petitioner as a hardened criminal who has carried out the illegal activities of circular trading with the sole objective to loot government revenue.
The division bench of Justice Abhay Ahuja and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan the investigation needs to be expedited and taken to its logical conclusion one way or the other because extreme measures such as placing of alert on IEC and withholding of IGST/GST dues can not be continued for an indefinite period. The same cannot be continued ad- infinitum merely on the basis of suspicion, howsoever strong such suspicion may be.
Thus the division bench issued various directions to the respondent authority.
Firstly, respondents were directed to unfreeze the bank account of the petitioner with IDFC Bank, Andheri (E) Branch forthwith.
Secondly, the respondents were also directed to complete the investigation into the allegations against the petitioner within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
Lastly, placing an alert on the Import Export Code of the petitioner or claim of refund of IGST/GST would be subject to the outcome of such investigation.
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