GST DAILY – 453 : GST Acts and Customs Act, 1962 are not a complete code for search, seizure and arrest; provisions of CrPC would apply: SC

byCA Pradeep Modi
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THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Radhika Agarwal V/s Union of India Writ Petition (Criminal) Nos. 261, 263, 266 of 2019 and Others, decided on 27-2-2025

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👉 Issue:-

✔️ Are GST Acts and Customs Act, 1962 a complete code for search, seizure and arrest?

👉 The Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgement:-

✔️ GST : Powers to summon, arrest and prosecute are ancillary and incidental to power to levy and collect GST; thus, sections 69 and 70 of GST Acts are not ultra vires Constitution, as GST Acts, in pith and substance, pertain to Article 246A of Constitution.

Section 69, read with section 132 of Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017

✔️ CUSTOMS : Section 104(1) of Customs Act, 1962 stipulates that a customs officers may only arrest a person if they have ‘reasons to believe’ that he has committed an offence and not otherwise; this ‘reasons to believe’ represents a more stringent standard than ‘mere suspicion’ threshold as provided under section 41 of Cr. PC, 1973 for reason that unbridled exercise of power to arrest without a warrant can result in arbitrariness and errors in decision making process.

Section 104 of Customs Act, 1962

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