India, Feb. 28 -- New Delhi The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the power of officers to arrest individuals under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Customs Acts but introduced key judicial safeguards to prevent arbitrary detention and clarified the extent and limits of enforcement under these special statutes.

A three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, emphasised the necessity of procedural compliance to uphold constitutional rights, while issuing directives to ensure that arrests are not made on "mere suspicion" or "for the sake of investigation".

Delivering the verdict on a bundle of 281 petitions that assailed the arresting powers under the central and state GST laws and the Customs Act, the bench, al...