Pariksha Saathi57th GST Council Meeting Recommends Removal of Arrest Powers, Raises Prosecution Threshold to Rs 5 Crore
Meeting in New Delhi on 8 October 2026 with Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the chair, the 57th GST Council concentrated mainly on process reforms (registration, returns, refunds and adjudication), after its previous meeting had dealt with rate rationalisation. Its headline proposals point towards decriminalisation: the power of arrest under Section 69 of the CGST Act would be withdrawn altogether, prosecution would apply only above ₹5 crore instead of ₹1 crore, and the cap on the general penalty would come down from ₹25,000 to ₹10,000. For businesses, the Council backed broader eligibility for input tax credit and refunds, system-driven refunds to ease working-capital pressure, simpler registration and compliance (including an easier route for small sellers on e-commerce platforms), uniform standards for notices and adjudication, interception of goods in transit only on specific intelligence and with an officer's authorisation, and steps to support the export of services. It also gave in-principle approval to an optional scheme for small consumer-facing (B2C) suppliers with turnover up to ₹5 crore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the package as a move towards simpler, trust-based tax administration. Most of these changes will apply only once the CGST law, rules or notifications are actually amended.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The GST Council is a constitutional body under Article 279A of the Constitution (inserted by the 101st Amendment, 2016). It is chaired by the Union Finance Minister, with the Union Minister of State for Finance and the finance/taxation minister of every state and union territory (that has a legislature) as members. The Council recommends GST rates, exemptions and model laws to the Union and State governments.
Reference: GST Council’s official website
Check yourself: are the GST Council’s recommendations legally binding on the Union and State governments by themselves?
No — the Supreme Court (Mohit Minerals, 2022) held that GST Council recommendations are recommendatory, not binding; they still need to be given effect through actual legislation or a notification by the competent government.
Revision task: note which proposal in this release still needs a notification or legislative change before it takes effect, versus what is already final.
Test yourself
What did the 57th GST Council meeting recommend about the power of arrest under Section 69 of the CGST Act?
Show the answer
Answer: Withdraw it altogether
The Council recommended withdrawing the power of arrest under Section 69 altogether, raising the prosecution threshold from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore and cutting the cap on the general penalty from ₹25,000 to ₹10,000; most of these changes apply only once the CGST law, rules or notifications are amended.
Read the daily collection → · Editorial standards & corrections