Section 83 of CGST Act, 2017— Provisional Attachment of Bank Accounts —-- The petitioner prayed for a mandamus directing the respondents to remove the provisional attachment of the bank accounts of the petitioner and return the electronic devices seized on 24.01.2019. The court observed that Sub-section (2) of Section 83 states that any provisional attachment shall cease to have effect after a period of one year from the date of attachment and thus the attachment died a natural death in January, 2020. The inspection in this case is January, 2019 whereas the SCN is issued only in October, 2022. This delay of nearly four years in issuing SCN cannot be a reason to continue an attachment under Section 83 of the Act, which itself is provisional in nature. Section 83 must be resorted to in appropriate cases, ensuring with equal vigour that the Department is proceeding in a timely manner, by issuing notice and finalizing proceedings in a time bound fashion.

Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court allowed the writ petition and directed that the needful be done within a period of one week.