The Allahabad High Court held that the service of the order on truck drivers can not be a valid service as by no stretch of the imagination the truck driver can be termed as representative of the petitioner.
The petitioner, M/S Singh Traders is a registered dealer having a valid registration. The petitioner alleges that the respondent authority passed an order under Section 129 (3) of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 against the petitioner on the grounds that the goods were not accompanied by the requisite E-way Bill-01 and proceeded to determine tax and penalty of Rs. 3,03,660.
The petitioner was aggrieved against the said order, he preferred an appeal before the respondent authority. It is claimed by the petitioner that the petitioner had obtained a certified copy of the order and therefore, the appeal was filed.
It is alleged that the order was served on the driver of the truck in question and was never served upon the petitioner, which is against the mandate of Section 169 of the Act. The Respondent authority vide its order dismissed the appeal on the ground of limitation as prescribed under Section 107(1) and 107(4) of the Act.
The petitioner contended that admittedly the copy of the order was served upon the driver of the truck, who, by no stretch of the imagination, can be termed as representative of the petitioner and thus, the starting point of limitation should have been from the date on which the petitioner obtained the copy of the order against which the appeal was preferred.
The single-judge bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia held that the driver would not fall within any of the categories specified from the Clause a to f of Section 169 (1) of the Act.
Therefore, the court said that the order impugned in the present writ petition is wholly arbitrary, illegal and contrary to the mandate of Section 169 of the Act. Accordingly, the order is set aside.
The court directed the appellate authority to hear and decide the GST Appeal in accordance with law without going into the question of limitation on merits. The appellate authority shall decide the appeal as expeditiously as possible.
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