The prayers in this Writ Petition (Criminal) filed under

Article 226 of the Constitution of India are as follows:-

“(i)

A wit of mandamus or appropriate writ order or

direction directing the 2^nd respondent to conduct

investigation by registering FIR or conduct preliminary

enquiry, upon the allegations contained in Ext.P2

complaint preferred by the petitioner within a time

frame to be prescribed by this Hon’ble Court.

(ii)

To issue such other reliefs that this Hon’ble Court

may deem fit and proper considering the nature and

circumstances of this case.

(iii)

To dispense with the filing of English translation of

the vernacular documents produced along with the Writ

Petition.

2.

The petitioner is engaged in hotel business and he is

a live dealer for the purpose of KGST Act and Rules.

3.

The crux of the averments in the Writ Petition relates

to demand of bribe by one Sri.Sabu Kumar, former Deputy

Commissioner of State Goods and Services Tax Department,

Special Circle, Thiruvananthapuram. The relevant averments in

the Writ Petition are extracted below:

“2.

For the assessment year 2015-16 and 2016-17,

for Hotel Lake Palace, the petitioner was assessed with

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gross profit at the rate of 175% as against the conceded

gross profit of 52%. This assessment was done by Asst.

Commissioner, Special Circle, Thiruvananthapuram of

the State Goods and Service Tax Department. The

officer who passed the said assessment and made

demand on 29.10.2019 was Sabu Kumar S. The

petitioner challenged the said demand before the Joint

Commissioner (Appeals) II U/s 17(3) of the KGST Act.

The appeal was allowed by re-assessing the gross profit

@120% and thereby modifying the assessment order.

The assessment for the subsequent years i.e., 2018-

2019 and 2019-2020 was done by Sajith P.S. who took

charge of the office from Sabu Kumar since Sabu Kumar

S. was transferred out from Thiruvananthapuram Special

Circle to the Officer of the Deputy Commissioner,

Special Circle Kasaragod by proceedings dated

21.04.2022.

3.

When notices for the assessment year 2018-2019

and 2019-2020 was received by the petitioner for Hotel

Lake Palace, it was found that there is mention with

regard to an enquiry conducted by Sabu Kumar on

07.04.2022 at Hotel Lake Palace. However, to the best

of the knowledge of the petitioner no such enquiry was

conducted on 07.04.2022. It was also revealed that as

per the said enquiry report according to Sabu Kumar a

gross profit @ 350% is proposed to be given in the pre-

assessement notices for the years 2018-2019 and 2019-

2020. The petitioner has sought for the said report of

Sabu Kumar under the Right to Information Act and was

served with the same. A true copy of the report dated

07.04.2022 received under RTI Act is produced herewith

and marked as Exhibit P1.

4.

In fact on 07.04.2022 Sabu Kumar and four others

came to Hotel Lake Palace and demanded a room for

consuming alcohol and food. The petitioner provided the

demanded room, liquor and food to Sabu Kumar and

others. As per the records maintained at the hotel a

total amount of Rs.5,680/- cost for food and Rs.2,170/-

was the amount involved for the liquor consumed. Sabu

Kumar demanded that the said amount should be

accounted as complementary. Further Sabu Kumar

demanded an amount of Rs.25 Lakhs for completing the

assessment for the years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.

The petitioner refused to pay the said demand for the

reason that the petitioner has been paying all required

government statutory payments correctly, the previous

year assessment also shows that the petitioner was

paying tax and other dues promptly and for the purpose

of KGST Act gross profit was assessed only @ 120%

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finally. Sabu Kumar left the premises with displeasure

and the matter was intimated to the higher authorities

also.

5.

As submitted earlier Sabu Kumar who was

transferred out was succeeded in office by Sajith P.S.

who issued notices under Sec.17(3) of the KGST Act

assessing