The Supreme Court of India has set aside the Chhattisgarh High Court directions for making an accused deposit Rs 70 lakh as condition for bail.
A bench of Justice Krishna Murari and Justice BV Nagarathna have said that the direction was not liable to be sustained and set it aside.
The Apex Court was hearing a matter challenging a Chhattisgarh High Court matter where a bail was granted to the appellant in a case under the Goods and Service Tax Act (GST Act) subject to certain conditions.
Among the other conditions, one was that the appellant should deposit a sum of ₹70 lakh in favour of the Principal Commissioner, CGST, Raipur within a period of 45 days from the date of his release.
The appellant counsel said that the condition was not sustainable, and the reason he gave was that the FIR was in respect of wrongfully availing Input Tax Credit of roughly Rs 7 crores as there was no final assessment under the GST Act in this regard.
The lawyer contended that it could not be presumed based on the FIR that the appellant was under a legal liability to pay the amount.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj, who appeared for the Central government, also agreed that condition like this cannot be imposed while granting bail.
Considering the contentions, the assailed direction was set aside by the Court.