- The Calcutta High Court has ruled that the GST and Anti-Fraud Departments do not have the authority to issue notices to lawyers representing alleged tax evaders.
- This decision was made in the case of Himangshu Kumar Ray vs. State Of West Bengal and is based on the principle of attorney-client privilege, which protects the communication between an attorney and their client under Sections 126 and 129 of the Evidence Act.
- The court also criticized the Anti-Fraud Department’s approach to the investigation, finding its standard format notices under Section 160 Cr.P.C. to be an attempt to generalize all assessees throughout the state as fraudsters.
- The High Court set aside these notices and granted the department the liberty to conduct proper, assessee-centric investigations.
- In addition, the court granted leave to a third party to prefer appeal against an order that affected them and allowed the condonation of delay in filing an appeal.
Source Taxguru
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