The Madhya Pradesh High Court, Indore Bench, ruled that the Goods and Service Tax Act (GST Act) overrides the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and that the GST department cannot delegate search and seizure operations to local police. The bench, led by Justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Duppala Venkata Ramana, held that GST authorities must follow the procedures outlined in the GST Act when initiating prosecutions. They cannot bypass these procedures by invoking IPC provisions without prior sanction from the Commissioner, as required by Section 132(6) of the GST Act. The court quashed an FIR against a petitioner accused under IPC, stating that the department should have relied on GST penal provisions. This decision reinforces the primacy of the GST Act in tax-related prosecutions.