Shri P Thiaga Rajan, Hon'ble Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu

GST - Appellate authority could have taken into consideration the entire period of Pandemic and condoned the delay in filing appeal: HC

GST - Expiry of e-Way bill in transit - Respondent could not establish any element of evasion of tax with fraudulent intent - Seizure of vehicle and goods not permissible: HC

ST - SVLDRS, 2019 - So as not to render the petitioner vulnerable and remediless, Bench deems it appropriate to permit petitioner to revive the petition: HC

Cus - Continuous detention, surely is not what has been contemplated under law - Procedure adopted by the authority is wholly unknown to the statute: HC

2023-TIOL-33-HC-AHM-GST

Times Projects Vs State Tax Inspector

GST - The appellate authority vide order dated 28.9.2022 passed an order rejecting the appeal on the ground that it was preferred beyond the period of limitation - Petitioner challenges this order.

Held: Noticing, particularly, the period of Pandemic and the order of the Apex Court in this relation in a given case to be applied to each matter, in opinion of the Bench, the appellate authority could have taken into consideration this entire period of Pandemic to condone the delay as the date of knowledge - So far as the case of the petitioner is concerned, the date of knowledge is 6.9.2022 and the bank attachment had been made on 6.9.2022 and he thereafter had approached the authority concerned - If his date of knowledge is taken into consideration, the delay deserves to be condoned - It was simply not feasible to prefer the appeal against the order of the respondent authority asked on 15.7.2021 - Accordingly, this petition is allowed quashing and setting aside the order dated 28.9.2022 - Appeal preferred is restored to the file - Appellate authority to hear appeal on merits in accordance with law: High Court [para 12, 13]

- Petition disposed of: GUJARAT HIGH COURT

2023-TIOL-32-HC-AHM-GST

Shree Govind Alloys Pvt Ltd Vs State of Gujarat

GST - Petitioner challenges the authority of the respondent demanding the sum of Rs. 7,53,364/- as demand of tax and penalty u/s 129(3) of the Act, 2017 - It is the grievance of the petitioner that the truck had remained in non-motorable condition and thus, the goods which were to be delivered on or before 17.10.2022 could not be delivered in time and on 19.10.2022 at the time of inspection, because of the expiration of the e-Way bill number, the entire truck along with the impugned goods has been seized - Counsel for Revenue justifies the detention on the ground that e-Way bill had expired 41 hours before the time of interception; that the period between the expiry of validity of e-Way bill and time of interception was not substantiated and no justification was offered by conveyance driver.

Held : Court in Govind Tobacco Manufacturing Co. vs. State of U.P., [2022] 140 taxmann.com 383 (Allahabad) has held that as there is expiry of e-Way bill in transit, the seizure of said vehicle and the goods is not permissible under the law - Respondent could not establish any element of evasion of tax with fraudulent intent or negligence on the part of the petitioner - Petition stands allowed - The impugned order dated 04.11.2022 demanding the sum of Rs.7,53,364/-is quashed and set aside - The order of detention dated 19.10.2022 as well as the notice issued under section 129(3) of the Act dated 19.10.2022 are also quashed and set aside: High Court [para 9, 10]

- Petition allowed: GUJARAT HIGH COURT

2023-TIOL-31-HC-AHM-ST

Sunshine Corporation Vs UoI

ST - SVLDRS, 2019 - Bench on 01.02.2022 decided the Special Civil Application No. 23250/2019 = 2022-TIOL-929-HC-AHM-CX allowing the writ application and quashing and setting aside the order dated 28.11.2019 and 19.12.2019 - The matter was remitted to the respondent for it to accept the form of declaration under the category of "litigation" sub-category "SCN involving duty pending" and undertake the process of verification through the designated committee - Incidentally, there is an omission of a reference of the petitioner no.3 which had led to the Court passing an order only in relation to the firm and not for the partners, therefore, the present application.

Held: Court virtually has become functus-officio and again, the attention of the Court ought to have been drawn at the relevant point of time to this aspect - Noticing the fact that it was covid time and the matter was being proceeded through the video conference coupled with the fact that the petitioner no.3 had already preferred the petition before this Court being Special Civil Application No. 6525/2021 which was permitted to be withdrawn for him to be impleaded as a party for seeking the prayers against the respondent, so as not to render the petitioner vulnerable and remediless, Bench deems it appropriate to permit her to revive the petition - Application stands disposed of accordingly: High Court [para 8, 9, 9.1, 10]

- Application disposed of: GUJARAT HIGH COURT

2023-TIOL-30-HC-AHM-CUS

Valbaux Minetech Vs UoI

Cus - Import of Magnesium Carbonate - Petitioner seeks directions against the respondents to forthwith release the goods imported - Two years have lapsed since the goods have reached this country, therefore, the petitioners pray for the release of the goods under Section 110A of the Customs Act, which envisages the provisional release of the goods by the Custom Authority on the ground that they are not fly-by-night operators, they need to be given the benefit - In petitioners' case, the documents had indicated the Country-of-Origin certificate having been issued by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry which mentioned that the Country-of-Origin of goods was Turkey - It is the grievance on the part of the respondent that the exporters at Dubai are reluctant to share the details of the supplier from Turkey or any documents related to goods movement; that the petitioners have been twice offered to get their goods under import released under the provisional assessment.

Held: Petitioner's version is clear that it has given all what it had with it and the Country-of-Origin certificate issued by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce would govern their case. This certificate is being questioned by the respondent authority. The easiest way for them to question the genuineness is by inquiring with the counter-part and this will be feasible only at the level of the Union Ministry or the concerned authority that may have specified by the Union Ministry - What one finds here is that the goods are not of a perishable nature nor of hazardous character - Goods have been simply detained and the inquiry has been initiated, which is continuing for the period of two years - This would surely defeat the right of the party concerned to even take recourse to the provision of Section 110A of the Customs Act and ask for the provisional release of the goods - This continuous detention surely is not what has been contemplated under the law - This procedure adopted by the authority is wholly unknown to the statute - This could be done only with a purpose of not allowing the party concerned to take recourse to Section 110A of the Customs Act and in absence of any seizure, there is no show cause notice even given within a period of six months which is mandatory in nature - Here, there is no seizure at all and what has happened is only the detaining of the goods on the ground of the authority concerned questioning the Country-of-Origin certificate - Goods are alleged to be from Pakistan as the Country-of-Origin Certificate is doubted - Let the inquiry be expedited and with a word of caution to all concerned to follow the statute - Petition is ALLOWED - Court would release the goods in favour of petitioners with certain conditions - Considering the value of the goods in the instant case being Rs.11,32,131/-, Bank Guarantee of Rs.2,00,000/- is directed to be furnished by the petitioners for a period of eight weeks - authority concerned to complete the inquiry within a period of eight weeks - Petition disposed of: High Court [para 8.2, 8.5, 10, 12, 15]

- Petition disposed of: GUJARAT HIGH COURT