Radhika Agarwal vs Union Of India 2025 INSC 272 - GST Acts - Customs Act - Power To Arrest

Constitution of India - Article 246-A - Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 - Section 69 and 70 - Constitutional Validity upheld - The Parliament has the power to make laws regarding GST and, as a necessary corollary, enact provisions against tax evasion. Article 246-A of the Constitution is a comprehensive provision and the doctrine of pith and substance applies. The impugned provisions lay down the power to summon and arrest, powers necessary for the effective levy and collection of GST- The GST Acts, in pith and substance, pertain to Article 246-A of the Constitution and the powers to summon, arrest and prosecute are ancillary and incidental to the power to levy and collect goods and services tax. ((Para 75-77) - Pre-conditions and when and how the power of arrest is to be exercised discussed.

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 50, 41B, 41D, 50A, 55A- Customs Act - The customs officers are not police officers. (Para 16)- Section 50 - The obligation to provide grounds of arrest is incumbent upon them. Customs officers must also maintain records of their statutory functions including details like the name of the informant, name of the person who has violated the law, nature of information received by the officers, time of arrest, seizure details, and statements recorded during the course of detection of the offence(s) (Para 24) Section 41-B - Procedures of arrest and the duties of the officer making the arrest - .Although this section refers to the police officer, we believe, it equally imposes a duty on the customs officers. Officers making an arrest are required to bear an accurate, legible, and clear indication of their names to facilitate ease of identification by the arrestee (Para 25)- Section 41-D of the Code is applicable for offences under the Customs Act. Accordingly, a person arrested by a customs officer has the right to meet an advocate of his choice during interrogation, but not throughout interrogation (Para 26) - Section 55A states that it shall be the duty of the person having custody of the accused to take reasonable care of their health and safety. This provision shall be equally applicable to arrests under the Customs Act. (Para 28) - Stipulations under Section 50A will apply in cases of arrests made by the customs officers. (Para 27)

Customs Act - Section 104(1) - A person arrested as soon as may be is required to be informed of the grounds of such arrest. The grounds of arrest must be given in writing to the arrestee before he is produced before the Magistrate in terms of Section 104(2). This is necessary as it enables the accused to contest and challenge his arrest and seek bail from the court. To deny and not give the grounds in writing would be to deprive the accused of his right in terms of Section 104(1) and also to seek right of bail under the provisions of the Code. (Para 47)

Constitution of India - Article 20(3) - A person summoned under Section 70 of the GST Acts is not per se an accused protected under Article 20(3) of the Constitution- Prohibitive sweep of Article 20(3) of the Constitution does not go back to the stage of interrogation. (Para 69)

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 438 - It is not essential that the application for anticipatory bail should be moved only after an FIR is filed, as long as facts are clear and there is a reasonable basis for apprehending arrest - The power to grant anticipatory bail arises when there is apprehension of arrest. This power, vested in the courts under the Code, affirms the right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution to protect persons from being arrested. (Para 70) Decision in the context of GST Acts which are contrary to the aforesaid ratio should not be treated as binding. (Para 70)