Facts of the Case

White Opal WXPO Trade Pvt. Ltd., through its Pune branch office, along with six connected petitioner companies — Parees Overseas Pvt. Ltd., C Kluster Expotrade Pvt. Ltd., Amal Overseas Pvt. Ltd., Ninad Overseas Pvt. Ltd., Eckon Crystal Merchants Pvt. Ltd. and Meticulous Overseas Pvt. Ltd. — filed a batch of seven writ petitions before the Bombay High Court against the Principal Additional Director General of GST Intelligence, Mumbai, and others, seeking de-freezing of their respective bank accounts. While these petitions were pending, a fresh provisional attachment order in Form GST DRC-22 dated 3 January 2023 was issued under Section 83 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, provisionally attaching the petitioners' bank accounts afresh, superseding the basis of the pending petitions.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the petitioners could be permitted to withdraw the pending writ petitions challenging the earlier bank account freeze, with liberty to file fresh petitions directed at the subsequent provisional attachment order dated 3 January 2023.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • Counsel for the petitioners submitted that all seven petitions sought similar relief, namely de-freezing of the respective bank accounts frozen by the GST Intelligence authorities.
  • Since a fresh attachment order in Form GST DRC-22 dated 3 January 2023 had been issued under Section 83 CGST Act provisionally attaching the petitioners' bank accounts, liberty was sought to withdraw the present petitions and file fresh petitions directed specifically against that subsequent order.

Respondent's Arguments

  • No independent opposition to the withdrawal request is recorded; the respondents, represented by counsel, did not contest the petitioners' request to withdraw with liberty to file afresh.

Court Order/Findings

  • The Court accepted the petitioners' request and permitted withdrawal of all seven writ petitions, with liberty to file fresh petitions to challenge the provisional attachment order dated 3 January 2023 issued under Section 83 CGST Act.
  • All contentions of the parties were expressly kept open, meaning no view was expressed on the validity of either the original or the subsequent attachment.
  • The connected interim applications were disposed of as not surviving, with no order as to costs.

Important Clarification

  • Where a fresh provisional attachment order under Section 83 CGST Act supersedes the order under challenge in a pending writ petition, courts will readily permit withdrawal of the earlier petition with liberty to file afresh against the new order, keeping all substantive contentions open.
  • Such withdrawal orders carry no adjudication on the legality of provisional bank account attachment and should not be read as either upholding or invalidating the department's exercise of power under Section 83.

Sections Involved

  • Section 83, Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — empowers the Commissioner to provisionally attach property, including bank accounts, to protect revenue during pendency of specified proceedings.
  • Form GST DRC-22 — the prescribed form for communicating a provisional attachment order under Section 83.

Decision – In Favour of

This is a procedural withdrawal order with liberty to re-litigate, and does not favour either the Assessee or the Department on merits. The petitioners were permitted to withdraw the petitions in view of a superseding attachment order, with all contentions regarding the validity of the provisional attachment under Section 83 CGST Act expressly kept open for a fresh round of litigation.

Related Case Laws

No directly on-point case notes are currently published on this site.

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Judicature at Bombay
  • Case No.: Writ Petition No. 15339 of 2023 (with connected WP Nos. 15497, 15499, 15498, 15502, 15500 and 15501 of 2023)
  • CNR: Not available
  • Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice G. S. Kulkarni and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Jitendra Jain
  • Decision Date: 19 December 2023
  • Disposal Nature: Disposed of – petitions withdrawn with liberty to file fresh petitions

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