Section 132. Punishment for certain offences.-
(1) 1[Whoever commits, or causes to commit and retain
the benefits arising out of, any of the following offences], namely:-
(a) supplies any goods or services or both without
issue of any invoice, in violation of the provisions of this Act or the rules
made thereunder, with the intention to evade tax;
(b) issues any invoice or bill without supply of goods
or services or both in violation of the provisions of this Act, or the rules
made thereunder leading to wrongful availment or utilisation of input tax
credit or refund of tax;
(c) 2[avails input tax credit using the invoice or
bill referred to in clause (b) or fraudulently avails input tax credit without
any invoice or bill;]
(d) collects any amount as tax but fails to pay the
same to the Government beyond a period of three months from the date on which
such payment becomes due;
(e) evades tax 3[****]or fraudulently obtains refund
and where such offence is not covered under clauses (a) to (d);
(f) falsifies or substitutes financial records or
produces fake accounts or documents or furnishes any false information with an
intention to evade payment of tax due under this Act;
(g) 4[****];
(h) acquires possession of, or in any way concerns
himself in transporting, removing, depositing, keeping, concealing, supplying,
or purchasing or in any other manner deals with, any goods which he knows or
has reasons to believe are liable to confiscation under this Act or the rules
made thereunder;
(i) receives or is in any way concerned with the
supply of, or in any other manner deals with any supply of services which he
knows or has reasons to believe are in contravention of any provisions of this
Act or the rules made thereunder;
(j) 5[****];
(k) 6[****]; or
(l) attempts to commit, or abets the commission of any
of the offences mentioned in 7[clauses (a) to (f) and clauses (h) and (i)] of
this section,
shall be punishable-
(i) in cases where the amount of tax evaded or the
amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or the amount of refund
wrongly taken exceeds five hundred lakh rupees, with imprisonment for a term
which may extend to five years and with fine;
(ii) in cases where the amount of tax evaded or the
amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or the amount of refund
wrongly taken exceeds two hundred lakh rupees but does not exceed five hundred
lakh rupees, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and
with fine;
(iii) in the case of 8[an offence specified in clause
(b),] where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly
availed or utilised or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds one hundred
lakh rupees but does not exceed two hundred lakh rupees, with imprisonment for
a term which may extend to one year and with fine;
(iv) in cases where he commits or abets the commission
of an offence specified in clause (f) 9[****], he shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine or with
both.
(2) Where any person convicted of an offence under
this section is again convicted of an offence under this section, then, he
shall be punishable for the second and for every subsequent offence with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine.
(3) The imprisonment referred to in clauses (i), (ii)
and (iii) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall, in the absence of
special and adequate reasons to the contrary to be recorded in the judgment of
the Court, be for a term not less than six months.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973, all offences under this Act, except the offences
referred to in sub-section (5) shall be non- cognizable and bailable.
(5) The offences specified in clause (a) or clause (b)
or clause (c) or clause (d) of sub-section (1) and punishable under clause (i)
of that sub-section shall be cognizable and non-bailable.
(6) A person shall not be prosecuted for any offence
under this section except with the previous sanction of the Commissioner.
Explanation.- For the purposes of this section, the
term " tax" shall include the amount of tax evaded or the amount of
input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or refund wrongly taken under the
provisions of this Act, the State Goods and Services Tax Act, the Integrated
Goods and Services Tax Act or the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act
and cess levied under the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act.
