After taking note of an Orissa High Court judgement issued in March 2021, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Nisha M Thakore issued the ad-interim order.
“We are aware of the decision of the Orissa High Court of March 31, 2021. This is something that needs to be thought about. We direct that no coercive action be taken against lawyers, law firms of advocates, including LLPs providing legal services, for non-compliance with any legal obligations under the CGST, DGST, or IGST, by way of an ad-interim decision “According to the order.
The Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA) was disputing demand notifications given to a large number of its members in court.
When the matter came up for hearing, the Bench questioned why the association had come forward rather than the impacted individuals.
The petitioner-lawyer, association’s Masoom K Shah, stated that a high number of lawyers are receiving such notices since the Income Tax Department does not know whether the individual is a lawyer who is entitled for the reverse charge process under the statute.
“The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sends data to the IRS (to CGST). The Department has no way of knowing whether or not a person is a lawyer. Such notices have been sent to a large number of lawyers “Shah stated.
The Court then proceeded to give notice while also providing ad-interim relief from coercion.
GHCAA was represented by Senior Advocate Saurabh N Soparkar.
In March 2021, the Orissa High Court ordered the Commissioner of GST to send explicit directions to all authorities in Odisha, stating that no notice requesting payment of service tax/GST shall be issued to practising lawyers.
