Delay in producing E-Way Bill is a Mere Technical Breach: Allahabad HC Deletes Penalty [Read Order]

E-Way Bill - Maharashtra - Taxscan

While deleting penalty against M/S Raj Iron & Building Materials, a division bench of the Allahabad High Court held that delay in submitting e-way bill would amount to a mere ‘technical breach’ under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law.

In the instant case, the petitioners imported goods from West Bengal under regular tax invoice. The goods were later seized by the department for want of e-way bill.

The petitioners contended that it had downloaded the E-Way Bill from the website of the department on 05.12.2017 and submitted the same to the authorities before the conclusion of the penalty proceedings.

The bench found merit in the contention of the petitioner and noted that there is no allegation of evasion of tax liability established either from the reading of the show cause notice or the seizure order or the penalty order the consequential penalty imposed appear to have been occasioned upon a mere technical breach and not on account of any intention to evade tax.

“It is also not disputed that being faced at present there are certain difficulties with regard to the downloading of the E-Way Bill and also certain doubts still remain with regard to the requirement and submission of E-Way Bill. In view of the above, the penalty order and the seizure order cannot be sustained and are hereby quashed,” the bench said.

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