No Penalty for Vehicle Number Discrepancy in Consignment Note after Vehicle Breakdown if GST e-waybill is Updated: Allahabad HC [Read Order]

A Single Bench of the Allahabad High Court quashed the penalty imposed for vehicle number discrepancy in consignment note - bility as the Part-B of the e-way bills were updated with the new vehicle registration number after a vehicle breakdown.

The petitioner challenged the penalty imposed for discrepancy in bility (consignment note) and invoice, with respect to vehicle registration number of truck that changed subsequent to a breakdown.

Subham Agrawal, counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that in the present case, the vehicle was changed in route and when the said change took place, the transporter uploaded and changed the new vehicle number in Part-B of the e-way bill.

He further submitted that the authorities intercepted the goods and imposed penalty on the following grounds:-

(i) The bilty (consignment note) and the invoice that were accompanying the goods reflected the erstwhile truck number that has been used in the first part of the transportation.

(ii) The Private Marka mentioned in the consignment note was not specifically mentioned in the bags carrying the goods.

The Bench noted that, “It is to be noted that the goods were in order and the e-way bill was also as per the goods that were being transported.”

The Bench observed that, “Upon perusal of the documents, it is clear that Part-B of the eway bill has been changed due to change of the vehicle. It is obvious that when a vehicle is changed, the number in the bilty could not be changed as the goods were in transit. Consequently, the first ground is baseless and is rejected out rightly.”

The Bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf also observed that, “The second ground that private marka was not mentioned in the bags carrying the goods does not in any manner raise a presumption of evasion of tax.”

In light of the above, the impugned orders were observed to be without any basis in law and were accordingly quashed and set-aside.

The Allahabad High Court also directed that any amount that has been deposited by the petitioner is to be refunded within a period of four weeks.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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