Shekhar B. Saraf, J. - (1.) The grievances raised and issues involved in all the six writ petitions are common, and accordingly they were heard together and are being decided conjointly. This is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India wherein the writ petitioners are aggrieved by the orders passed by the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence, Kolkata Zonal Unit [hereinafter referred to as "DGGI"], to provisionally attach the current bank accounts of the writ petitioner under Section 83 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
(2.) For the purpose of convenience, the facts in writ petition W.P. No. 21272(W) of 2019 are being taken into consideration and are chronologically delineated hereinbelow: a. The writ petitioner no. 1 is a private limited company duly incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, under the name of Amazonite Steels Private Limited [hereinafter referred to as the "said company"] whereas petitioner no. 2 is the director of the said company. The said company is duly registered under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 [hereinafter referred to as "CGST Act, 2017"] and West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, having its registration number as 19AAPCA2903C1ZW. b. The said company carries on its business transactions through the current account registered with M/s. Lakshmi Vilas Bank, New Alipur Branch [hereinafter referred to as the "said bank"] having account no. 0125360000002129 [hereinafter referred to as the "said account"]. c. On 5th June, 2018, the Additional Director General, Directorate General of Goods & Services Tax Intelligence (hereinafter referred "ADGGI") passed an Order to provisionally attach the current account of the writ petitioner maintained in the said bank under Section 83 of the CGST Act, 2017, through FORM GST DRC - 22 [hereinafter referred to as the "said first Order"]. The said first Order of the ADGGI was addressed to the Branch Manager of the said bank in order to freeze the functioning of the said account of the petitioners. The relevant extract of the said Order is delineated below: "It is to inform that M/s. Amazonite Steels Pvt. Ltd. having principal place of business at 23 MSBK Mitra Road, Baranagar, Kolkata-700036 bearing GST registration number as 19AAPCA2903C1ZW, PAN- AAPCA2903C is a registered taxable entity under the CGST Act, 2017. Proceedings have been launched against the aforesaid taxable person under Section 67 of the said Act to determine the tax or any other amount due from the said entity. As per information available with the department, it has come to my notice that the said entity has the following bank account at your bank. Name as per the Account:- Amazonite Steels Pvt. Ltd. Account No:- 0125360000002129 In order to protect the interests of the revenue and in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 83 of the Act, I, Ataur Rahman, Additional Director General, hereby provisionally attach the aforesaid account. No debit shall be allowed to be made from the said account or any other account operated by the aforesaid entity on the same PAN without the prior permission of this department." d. The said bank through a letter dated 11th June, 2018, informed the writ petitioner about the Order passed by the ADGGI which directed the bank to freeze the current account of the petitioners. e. After more than a year, on 19th July, 2019, the said company by way of a letter made representation before the ADGGI, requesting to de-freeze the current account of the company which was earlier provisionally attached under Section 83 of the CGST Act, 2017. f. The petitioner company on 20th July, 2019 informed the said bank regarding the appointment of new directors in the company, which was duly acknowledged by the said bank. g. On 31st July, 2019, the petitioner company wrote to the said bank praying for immediate de-freezing of the said account. The relevant portion of the letter is delineated below: "In this connection it is to inform you that although during the pendency of any proceedings under Section 67, the concerned authority had power to provisionally attach the bank account under sub-section (1) of Section 83 of the CGST Act, 2017 but under Section 83(2) of the CGST Act, 2017, such provisional attachment 'shall cease to have effect after one year from the date of the order made under sub-section (1)'. The letter for provisional attachment was issued by the DGGI, GOI on 05-06-2018 and in terms of Section 83(2) the period of provisional attachment expired on 05-06-2019. In such circumstances, you are requested to immediately de-freeze the said account and allow the operation of the account forthwith." h. Thereafter, several other representations were made by the writ petitioner before the said bank as well as the ADGGI respectively praying to de-freeze the said current account but there was no response to the representations by either of the parties. i. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the inaction on the part of the respondents the writ petitioner preferred a writ application before this Court bearing W.P. No. 18429(W) of 2019 [hereinafter referred to as "earlier writ petition"]. The main prayers made by the writ petitioner in the earlier writ petition are delineated below: "(a) Writ in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondents and/or their men, servants, agents, assigns, etc. to withdraw/ cancel/ rescind the order of provisional attachment of the Current Account No. 0125360000002129 of the petitioner no. 1 company maintained with M/s. Lakshmi Vilas Bank, New Alipur Branch, Kolkata; (b) Writ in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondents and/or their men, servants, agents, assigns, etc. to forthwith allow the petitioners to operate the Current Account No. 0125360000002129 of the petitioner no. 1 company maintained with M/s. Lakshmi Vilas Bank, New Alipur Branch, Kolkata in terms of Section 83(2) of the CGST Act, 2017" j. The earlier writ petition which was filed by the writ petitioners came up for hearing and a co-ordinate bench of this Court passed an Order dated 1st October, 2019, directing the parties to file affidavits within a prescribed time. k. Thereafter, on 31st October, 2019, the Principal Additional Director General, Directorate General of Goods & Services Tax Intelligence (hereinafter referred to as "PDDGI") passed a fresh provisional order directing the said bank to provisionally attach the said current account of the petitioner. The said order was annexed to the affidavit-in-opposition filed in the earlier writ petition. l. Assailing the above fresh order of provisional attachment a fresh writ was filed being W.P. 21272 (W) of 2019.
(3.) The facts in W. P. No. 18431 (W) of 2019 and W. P. No. 18433 (W) of 2019 are identical to W. P. No. 18429 (W) of 2019, and accordingly, all these three writ petitions are hereinafter referred to as 'earlier writ petitions'. Furthermore, the facts in W.P. 21274 (W) of 2019 and W.P. 21273 (W) of 2019 are identical to W.P. 21272(W) of 2019, and accordingly, all these three writ petitions are hereinafter referred to as "present writ petitions". The legal issues which need to be addressed in the above writ petitions are as follows: A. Whether the Principal Additional Director General, DGGI and Additional Director General, DGGI are competent to pass orders under Section 83 of the CGST Act, 2017? B. Whether an order passed under Section 83 of the CGST Act, 2017, remains valid after the expiry of one year from the date of the order? C. Whether the authorities can issue fresh order of provisional attachment/multiple orders under Section 83 of the CGST Act, 2017? Issue A:;