1. Mr. Tushar Hemani, Senior Advocate, learned counsel with Mr. Apurva Mehta and Mr. Vijay Patel, learned advocates for the petitioner submitted that in this case, the respondents have blocked the tax credit of the petitioner vide order dated 20.07.2019. It was submitted that there is no provision under the State Goods and Services Tax Act or Central Goods and Services Tax Act which empowers the respondent officers to block the input tax credit of a supplier.

2. Referring to the order dated 30.07.2019 of provisional attachment of property under section 83 of the CGST Act as well as the order of provisional attachment of stock of the petitioner, it was submitted that the same have been passed in relation to the proceedings launched under section 71(1) of the said Acts. Referring to the provisions of section 83 of the CGST Act, it was pointed out that the same can be invoked during the pendency of proceedings under sections 62, 63, 64, 67, 73 or 74 of the said Act, however, there is no power vested in the respondents to invoke the provisions of section 83 in the proceedings launched under section 71(1) of the said Act. It was submitted that, therefore, the provisional attachment of the bank account as well as the stock of the petitioner is without authority of law.

3. It was pointed out that subsequently, the assessment order has been framed on 16.09.2019, to submit that once the assessment is framed, the attachment under section 83 of the CGST Act would no longer survive.

4. Having regard to the submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioner, issue Notice, returnable on 17th October 2019. By way of ad-interim relief, the respondents are directed to forthwith release the attachment of the bank account of the petitioner bearing No. 655305600366 maintained with the ICICI Bank, Rajkot made vide order dated 20.07.2019 and unblock the credit of the petitioner of ₹ 24,30,850/- available in the electronic credit ledger.

4.1 Direct service is permitted.