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IndiaAuditLens Law Library

Section 136 of the CGST Act, 2017

From the IndiaAuditLens Law Library

GST›CGST Act, 2017›Chapter XIX, Offences and Penalties

At a glance

Entitlement and conditions

  • 136The statement must be made and signed on appearance under a section 70 summons during an inquiry or proceeding. Its relevance is to proving its facts in prosecution under the Act.
  • 136(a)The unavailable-maker route covers death, inability to find or give evidence, exclusion by the adverse party, or attendance involving delay or expense the court considers unreasonable.
  • 136(b)If the maker is examined as a witness, the court must consider the circumstances and decide that admitting the statement serves the interests of justice.

A signed statement made in response to a summons can prove its contents in a GST prosecution only through the specified routes. The maker may be unavailable for a listed reason, including unreasonable delay or expense in securing attendance. Alternatively, the maker gives evidence and the court considers admission of the earlier statement justified in the interests of justice.[1]

Text

The text below is the section as served by the CBIC tax information portal on 17 September 2026, with the portal's own amendment footnote markers (shown as small numerals before a bracket) and its footnotes.[1] The Act as published in the Gazette of India is the legal source.

Section 136, verbatim (show)

* Section 136. Relevancy of statements under certain circumstances.- A statement made and signed by a person on appearance in response to any summons issued under section 70 during the course of any inquiry or proceedings under this Act shall be relevant, for the purpose of proving, in any prosecution for an offence under this Act, the truth of the facts which it contains,-

(a) when the person who made the statement is dead or cannot be found, or is incapable of giving evidence, or is kept out of the way by the adverse party, or whose presence cannot be obtained without an amount of delay or expense which, under the circumstances of the case, the court considers unreasonable; or (b) when the person who made the statement is examined as a witness in the case before the court and the court is of the opinion that, having regard to the circumstances of the case, the statement should be admitted in evidence in the interest of justice. *Enforced w.e.f . 1st July, 2017.

Questions to answer on the file

Questions a reviewer answers from the engagement file, grouped by the part of the section they come from. They describe what the section asks; they do not decide it.

Unavailability route 136 opening and (a)

Questions to answer on the file9 questions
Ticks stay in this browser only.

Examined witness route 136 opening and (b)

Questions to answer on the file8 questions
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Amendment history

The CBIC text carries 1 footnote. The table gives each in the source's own terms. Effective dates are as the footnotes state them.[1]

Amendments to section 136 as footnoted in the CBIC text
NoteEffective from
01.07.2017
Provisions connected to Section 136
ProvisionConnectionWords that tie them
Section 70136 opening requires Section 70136 "summons issued under section 70"

Circulars and notifications

No circular or notification in the CBIC repository is recorded as citing this section.

See also

References

  1. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. "Section 136. Relevancy of statements under certain circumstances". Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, CBIC tax information portal, with amendment footnotes 1 to 1. Retrieved 17 September 2026.

External links