The Andhra Pradesh High Court has allowed the alleged GST evader to be examined in presence of an advocate and barred the detention beyond office hours.
The bench of Justice R Raghunandan Rao and Dr Justice K Manmadha Rao has directed the department to permit the petitioners to be accompanied by an advocate during the course of the examination of the petitioners as the petitioners apprehend that they would be subjected to coercive methods and that their statement that they have no knowledge of the affairs of any of these entities would not be accepted.
The respondent department has issued summons to the petitioners, under the provisions of Section 70 of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017calling upon the petitioners to appear before him to produce certain documents etc., in relation to the affairs of M/s. Sri Tech Pro and M/s. Sri Vijaya Tech Pro, on the ground that they are the proprietaries of these firms.
Aggrieved by the summons,the petitioners have approached the Court by way of the Writ Petition.
The petitioners contend that their son had been investigated earlier, in relation to evasion of GST and had already been arrested. The petitioners further contend that they are unaware of the activities of their son and have no knowledge of the evasion of the firms.
The petitioners apprehend that they would be subjected to coercive methods and that their statement that they have no knowledge of the affairs of any of these entities would not be accepted.
The court stated that the question of whether the statements that may be made by the petitioners would be accepted by the department or not, would depend upon the statements made by the petitioners and the discretion of the department to accept or reject the explanation. This would not mean that the petitioners can refuse to appear before the department.
The court directed that the examination shall be conducted during office hours between 10.00 am to 5.00 pm and the petitioners shall not be detained beyond that period of time.
Case Details
Case Title: Prakash Rao Ravinuthala and Others Versus The State Of Andhra Pradesh and Others
Case No.: Writ Petition No: 11757/2025
Date: 07/05/2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Md Saleem
Counsel For Respondent: GP
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