The Gujarat High Court has observed that, Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) department cannot detain goods on the ground that the transport receipt was a photocopy and the details filled in the transport receipt were handwritten.
The petitioner is a proprietary concern and is duly registered under the provisions of the relevant GST Act. The petitioner received an order from one M/s. Riya Enterprise, who is a registered person in the State of Maharashtra under the GST Acts for the supply of TMT bars and angles. Pursuant to such order, the petitioner was transporting the goods and the driver of the truck duly had with him the tax invoice as well as the transport receipt in respect of such goods. Before commencement of movement of goods, the petitioner had duly generated the e-way bill in respect of the transaction on the online GST portal. The details of the invoice, as well as details of the buyer, were duly entered in the online e-way bill.
The truck along with the goods came to be detained on the highway by the State Tax Officer, Mobile Squad, Sagbara. The driver of the truck duly produced all documents relating to the goods including invoice, transport receipt and e-way bill. However, despite the fact that the petitioner had complied with the procedure for movement of goods as stipulated under the GST Acts, by the impugned order, the truck with the goods came to be detained/seized under section 129 of the GST Acts on the ground that the transport receipt was a photocopy and the details filled in the transport receipt were handwritten.
The petitioner submitted that section 129 of the GST Acts is a drastic measure and hence, there has to be a serious and grave error for which the authorities can have an apprehension of evasion of tax and that the powers thereunder, should not be exercised lightly as the consequences are grave and that the detention has to be duly justified.
The division bench comprising of Justice Harsha Devani and Justice Sangeeta K. Vishen said that, “though the person in charge of the conveyance had produced the documents which were statutorily required to be kept with him during the course of transportation of the goods, the vehicle in question was detained on extraneous grounds namely that the lorry receipt issued by the transporter was a photocopy without computerised serial number and contact number details”.
The Court also said that, “the conveyance in question has been detained on the ground of discrepancy in transport certificate which is not a requirement prescribed under the statute. Under the circumstances, the second respondent was not justified in passing the order of detention under section 129(1) of the CGST Act”.
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