The High Court of Madras through the video conferencing denied the Korean Nationals release from the Special Camp on the grounds of COVID-19 lockdown and safety issues.
The petitioner is the Korean Company, which allegedly collected the Goods and Service Tax (GST) from their buyers, but has not remitted the same to the Government of India. Consequently, the Enforcement Compliance Management Section of the Goods and Service Tax (GST), initiated prosecution against the Petitioners herein under Section 132(1)(d) of the Central Goods and Service Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 and the petitioner was taken into custody.
The petitioners were unable to mobilize the amount for the bail and they were once again remanded to judicial custody. The petitioner was kept in special camps.
The petitioner filed the petitions seeking to release them from the Special Camp at Tiruchirapalli and allow them to stay at their respective address on the grounds that, the Authorities in the Special Camp at Tiruchirapalli have not taken proper measures of spraying any disinfectant in the Camp and that, social distancing is not properly maintained there.
The single-judge bench consisting of Justice S.Vaidyanathan held denied the Korean Nationals release from the Special Camp on the grounds of COVID-19 lockdown.
“Several Non-Bailable Warrants have already been issued to the Petitioners and that, there is every possibility of the Petitioners fleeing away from the clutches of Law, this Court while declining the relief sought by the Petitioners, without prejudice to the rights of the parties in the pending Habeas Corpus Petitions, directs the learned Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Economic Offences-I), Egmore, Chennai to take up the case, after normalcy is restored post-COVID-19 lockdown, and proceed with the same on a day-to-day basis, without adjourning it beyond ten working days at any point of time,” the Single Judge Bench observed.
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