BERGER PAINTS INDIA LTD. Vs. STATE TAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a company dealing in paints, faces proceedings under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act. As paint mixing machinery was seized by the authorities, the petitioner provided Ext. P6 bank guarantee as well as Ext. P6(a) security bond, before the 1st respondent, and had the machinery and the transport vehicle released.

(2.) At any rate, faced with adverse orders, the petitioner contemplates invoking the appellate remedy. Now, the petitioner has filed this writ petition ventilating his grievance that before the petitioner could invoke the appellate remedy, the 1st respondent is threatening to invoke the bank guarantee. According to the petitioner's counsel, the appellate forum itself was very recently created and still the procedural modalities have yet to be finalised. In the meanwhile, if the respondents invoke the bank guarantee, the petitioner's right to statutory remedies becomes illusory.

(3.) The Learned Government Pleader, on the other hand, has submitted that the petitioner has an efficacious alternate remedy and, so, can approach the appellate authority.