Supreme Court asked for data on arrests and notices made under GST law, said- people should not be exploited

The Supreme Court has directed the Central Government to provide complete data on arrests made under the GST law and notices sent under the law. The Supreme Court said that it would interpret the law and give necessary guidelines so that the freedom of the people is not violated. A special bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice Bela M Trivedi gave this direction while hearing 281 petitions. In these petitions, the provisions of GST law, Custom law, and PMLA law have been challenged.

Section 69 of the GST legislation is unclear. This section includes provisions for arrest. Concerns have been raised about this in such a scenario. The bench stated during the hearing that they would not permit citizens to be taken advantage of, but they would interpret the law if necessary. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who was representing the Centre, was informed by the bench Please provide information on the number of notices and arrests made under the GST Act for alleged defaults ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore over the last three years. People may be harassed as a result, and we will not tolerate that. We will make changes to the provisions if we believe they are unclear. Cannot send all the people behind bars.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra appeared in the court on behalf of the petitioners. Luthra alleged that the authority is misusing the power under the GST law and this is affecting the freedom of the people. Luthra said that in many cases arrests have not been made, but people have been harassed by giving notices and threatening them with arrest. When SV Raju said that central GST data can be available, but it will be difficult to collect the data of the states, on the court said that 'GST Council will have that data and if the data is there then we want all the data. Should be presented before us. Now the court will hear this matter on May 9.