Shree Ganesh Enterprises v. State Of U.P. And 2 Others

Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:32107

Case :- WRIT TAX No. - 1237 of 2019

Petitioner :- Shree Ganesh Enterprises Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Shubham Agrawal Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.

1. Heard Mr. Shubham Agrawal, learned counsel for the

petitioner and Sri Rishi Kumar, learned Additional Chief

Standing Counsel for the State respondents.

2. This is a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution

of India wherein the petitioner is aggrieved by an order dated

June 24, 2018 passed under Section 129(3) of the Uttar

Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter

referred to as "the Act") levying penalty upon the petitioner

and the subsequent appellate order dated June 22, 2019

dismissing the appeal filed by the petitioner.

3. Upon perusal of the record, it appears that the only

controversy involved in the present petition is with regard to

non filling up of Part 'B' of the e-Way Bill. The undisputed

facts are that firstly the bilty in fact had the details of the

truck that was carrying the goods; secondly, the goods were

not in variance with the invoice; and thirdly, the Department

has not been able to indicate any kind of intention of the

4. Mr. Shubham Agarwal, learned counsel for the petitioner

has relied upon two judgments of this Court in VSL Alloys

(India) Pvt. Ltd v. State of U.P. and another reported in

2018 NTN [Vol.67]-1 and M/s Citykart Retail Private

Limited through Authorized Representative v.

Commissioner Commercial Tax and Another reported in

2023 U.P.T.C. [Vol.113]-173 to buttress his argument that

non filling up of Part 'B' of the e-Way Bill by itself without any

intention to evade tax cannot lead to imposition of penalty

under Section 129(3) of the Act.

5. Sri Rishi Kumar, learned Additional Chief Standing

Counsel has relied upon the order passed by the appellate

authority to show that part 'B' of the e-Way Bill was not filled

6. One may look into the judgment passed in M/s Citykart

Retail Pvt. Ltd.'s case (supra) and lay reliance on two

paragraphs that are quoted below:

"7. In view of the contentions of the parties and the material

placed on record, it is clear that the only allegation levelled

against the petitioner leading to seizure of the goods was that

Part-B of the e-way bill was not filled up. There is no allegation

that the goods being transported were being transported without

payment of tax. The explanation offered by the petitioner for not

filling the Part-B of e-way bill, is clearly supported by the

Circulars issued by the Ministry of Finance wherein the problem

arising in filling the part-B of e-way bill was noticed and

8. In the present case, prima-facie no intent to evade the duty

can be ascertained, only on the allegation that Part-B of the e-

way bill was not filled, more so, in view of the fact that the

vehicle in which the goods were being transported on a Delhi

number, the said issue being decided in the judgment dated

13.04.2018 in the case of VSL Alloys India Pvt. Ltd. (supra)

covers the issue raised in the present case also, as such, for

the reasoning recorded above, the impugned order dated

18.04.2018 and the appellate order dated 14.05.2019 are set

7. In the present case, the facts are quite similar to one in

M/s Citykart Retail Pvt. Ltd.'s case (supra) and I see no

reason why this Court should take a different view of the

matter, as the invoice itself contained the details of the truck

and the error committed by the petitioner was of a technical

nature only and without any intention to evade tax. Once this

fact has been substantiated, there was no requirement to

levy penalty under Section 129(3) of the Act.

8. In light of the above, the orders dated June 24, 2018 and

June 22, 2019 are quashed and set aside. The petition is

allowed. Consequential reliefs to follow. The respondents

are directed to return the security to the petitioner within six

Order Date :- 23.2.2024 Dev/-

2024-02-27T10:42:22+0530 High Court of Judicature at Allahabad