India, Aug. 13 -- The GST authorities cannot arrest a person without first communicating the order authorising the arrest and the "reasons to believe" recorded by the commissioner, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, stressing that withholding such reasons could have "drastic consequences" for an accused's right to liberty.

A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu said an arrest order under Section 69 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act must be communicated to the affected individual because the order is a "sine qua non" (an essential condition) for seeking anticipatory bail. The court said such communication would not impede an ongoing GST investigation and, instead, would reinforce an accused's right to seek leg...