Section 135 of CGST Act 2017: Presumption of Culpable Mental State

Provisions under Section 135 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 relating to “Presumption of Culpable Mental State”, are as under:

Section 135 of CGST Act 2017: Presumption of Culpable Mental State (CHAPTER XIX – OFFENCES AND PENALTIES)

In any prosecution for an offence under this Act which requires a culpable mental state on the part of the accused, the court shall presume the existence of such mental state but it shall be a defence for the accused to prove the fact that he had no such mental state with respect to the act charged as an offence in that prosecution.

Explanation: For the purposes of this section,–

(i) the expression “culpable mental state” includes intention, motive, knowledge of a fact, and belief in, or reason to believe, a fact;

(ii) a fact is said to be proved only when the court believes it to exist beyond reasonable doubt and not merely when its existence is established by a preponderance of probability.

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The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 was notified by Govt. of India on 12 April, 2017 and CBIC has notified the commencement date for various Sections/ Provisions thereof from time to time. Subsequently, Govt. has notified the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) (Amendment) Act, 2018 on 30 Aug. 2018. Further, CBIC has separately notified the commencement date of provisions of various Sections of the CGST (Amendment) Act 2018 vide Notification No. 2/2019 Central Tax dt. 29 Jan. 2019, except for sections where the date of commencement is different from 1 Feb. 2019 and has specifically been mentioned in the CGST Amendment Act, 2018 itself.

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