The Allahabad High Court has allowed the conditional bail of Meerut businessman Qamar Ahmed Kazmi, accused of GST evasion worth crores of rupees.
A Single Bench of Justice Piyush Agrawal passed this order while hearing a Criminal Misc Bail Application filed by Qamar Ahmed Kazmi.
The bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant in Case under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 & 120-B IPC, Police Station – Civil Lines, District – Meerut with the prayer to release him on bail during pendency of trial.
The prosecution story as set up in the FIR filed by the Incharge Inspector, Special Task Force (S.T.F) is that the applicant has availed the input tax credit of more than Rs 4,28,37,362/- for the period of 2017-18 to 2022-23 without actual movement of goods on the basis of forged and fictitious documents of supplies were procured from various non-existing firms i.e Santosh Enterprises, Sandip Metal, Honey Metal and Rajpal & sons.
Further after implementation of the e-way bill system on the portal from the year 2018-19 till the month of May, 2023, e-way bills worth Rs 17,33,83,966 have been cancelled by the applicant’s firm without any valid reasons or reasonable explanation.
It has been further averred that on verification of all those selling firms, either the firms were found non-existing or have not done any business.
It has been further averred that the details of the trucks which were used for transportation of goods, have not been found in toll plazas situated on the alleged route of transportation.
The Court found that there is no dispute that prima facie, the applicant is involved in availing excess input tax credit as well as cancellation of e-way bill of the huge value by the proprietorship of his firm without any reasonable reason. The department has already issued notice under Section 70 and 74 of the GST Act against the firm of the applicant.
The Court observed that,
Further the record reveals that till date no adjudication order has been passed by the competent authority quantifying the excess availing the input tax credit. The record further reveals that neither any order has been passed by the competent authority cancelling the registration of the selling dealer in question nor the registration of the applicant’s firm has been cancelled.
Section 69 read with section 132 of the Act provides for punishment of wrongful availment of input tax credit with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and fine. It further provides that every second or thereof all the offense committed by the registered person shall be punishable. Further Section 138 of GST Act provides the compounding of all the offense committed by the registered person being caused after payment of tax and interest to the amount of such wrong availment of input tax credit.
Taking into consideration the provisions of law and the fact that the Commissioner is empowered to recover the due amount and propose for abating the proceedings and as the trial will take its own time to conclude, the Court finds this to be a fit case where discretion could be exercised in favour of the applicant.
The Supreme Court in the case of Sanjay Chandra Vs C.B.I (2012) 1 SCC 40 has held that seriousness of the offenses alone is not conclusive of the applicant’s entitlement to bail.
“Keeping in view the nature of the offence, argument advanced on behalf of the parties, evidence on record regarding complicity of the accused, larger mandate of the Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the dictum of Apex Court in the case of Dataram Singh Vs State of U.P and another reported in (2018)3 SCC 22 and recent judgement dated 11.7.2022 of the Apex Court in the case of Satendra Kumar Antil Vs C.B.I and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the Court is of the view that the applicant has made out a case for bail”, the Court further observed while allowing the bail application.
The Court ordered that,
Let the applicant namely Qamar Ahmed Kazmi be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two heavy sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to following conditions and further, before issuing the release order, the sureties be verified:-
(i) The applicant will surrender his passport, if any, and not leave the country without permission of the trial court concerned. In case he has no passport he will file an affidavit to this effect before the trial court prior to release him on bail.
(ii) The applicant will deposit Rs 25 lacs before the trial court prior to release him on bail and the same shall be kept in an interest bearing account of some nationalized bank and shall be forfeited in case of violation of any of conditions imposed by this order.
(iii) The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence by intimidating/ pressurizing the witnesses, during the investigation or trial.
(iv) The applicant shall not indulge in any criminal activity or commission of any crime after being released on bail.
(v) That the applicant shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer;
(vi) The applicant shall file an undertaking to the effect that he shall not seek any adjournment on the dates fixed for evidence and when the witnesses are present in court. In case of default of this condition, it shall be open for the trial court to treat it as abuse of liberty of bail and pass orders in accordance with law to ensure presence of the applicant.
(vii) The applicant shall personally appear before the trial court fortnightly in every calendar month.
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the bail of the applicant shall be deemed to be cancelled without any further reference of the Court and State shall forfeit of the amount of Rs 25 lacs deposited by the applicant.