The Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court in Manoj Bansal v. Deputy Director, Directorate of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence, Gurugram [CRM-M-45265 of 2025 (O&M) dated August 01, 2026] quashed the criminal complaint filed under Section 132 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”) against the Director of a company for alleged fraudulent availment of Input Tax Credit (“ITC”) of Rs. 15.44 crores on the strength of invoices of non-existent firms, and held that where the offence is admittedly committed by the company, its Director cannot be prosecuted in his individual capacity without arraigning the company as an accused, since commission of the offence by the company is an express condition precedent for fastening vicarious liability under Section 137 of the CGST Act.
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