HC upheld penalty imposed after detention as GST e-way bill was not extended before expiry

Case Details: Ashok and Sons (HUF) v. Joint Commissioner, State Tax, Office of the Senior Joint Commissioner, Siliguri Circle - [2023] 147 taxmann.com 582 (Calcutta)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Bibek Chaudhuri, J.
  • Jagriti Mishra, Subham Gupta, Debayan Goswami & Reshab Kumar, Advs. for the Petitioner.
  • Subir Kumar Saha & Bikramaditya Ghosh, Advs. for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner was manufacturer/supplier of milestone Bitumen Emulsion and Allied products. In course of business, the petitioner supplied Bitumen Emulsion after generating proper E-Way bill dated 5th March, 2022 which was valid up to 9th March, 2022 from Begusarai to Guwahati.

The vehicle was intercepted and on inspection it was found that E-Way bill in respect of the consignment had expired. The penalty was levied and it preferred an appeal before the Appellate Authority which was dismissed. It filed writ petition against the penalty order.

The department submitted that the petitioner’s consignment was found lying within territory of originating State when e-way bill had expired.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that the driver gave statement that during the course of transportation, the good carriage suffered from breakdown. However, in support of his contention he failed to produce proper document. Moreover, the petitioner had the opportunity to extend the validity of the E-Way bill when the goods vehicle had mechanical defect. The petitioner did not take any step for extension of E-Way bill.

Therefore, it was held that the department has power to impose penalty under Section 129 as well as demand tax as goods were found to be detained in territory of State and the petition was dismissed.