Ground of arrest must be mentioned under CGST

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued Instruction No. 01/2025-GST, dated January 13, 2025,

amending the arrest and bail guidelines under the CGST Act, 2017. This amendment follows the Delhi High Court’s ruling in Kshitij Ghildiyal vs Director General of GST Intelligence (W.P. (Crl) No. 3770/2024), which emphasized that the grounds for arrest must be communicated in writing to the accused. The ruling follow prior Supreme Court judgments, including Pankaj Bansal vs Union of India and Prabir Purkayastha vs State (NCT of Delhi), which highlighted the distinction between “reasons for arrest” and “grounds of arrest.” While reasons for arrest focus on formal justifications such as preventing further offences or ensuring evidence preservation, grounds of arrest must include specific facts justifying the individual’s detention.

The Supreme Court ruled that providing written grounds of arrest is essential to enable the accused to challenge custodial remand or seek bail effectively. Consequently, CBIC has amended Para 4.2.1 of Instruction No. 02/2022-23 (Investigation) to mandate that grounds of arrest must be explained to the accused and furnished in writing as an annexure to the arrest memo. Acknowledgement of receipt must be obtained from the arrested individual. This amendment aims to strengthen procedural transparency and safeguard individual rights during arrest under the CGST Act. The updated instruction has been circulated to all relevant CGST and DGGI officials

F.No.GST/INV/Instructions/21-22 Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs 10th Floor, Tower-2, Jeevan Bharti Building, Connaught Circus, New Delhi-110001 Instruction No. 01/2025-GST Dated: 13th January 2025 (Amendment to Instruction No. 02/2022-23 GST (Investigation) dated 17.8.2022)