Point of Law - Section 68 of the GST Act which empowers the authority concerned to intercept the vehicle and the goods. The said provision of Section 68 is required to be reproduced.

ORDER :

SONIA GOKANI, J.

1. The petitioner before this Court seeking quashment of the detention order in Form GST MOV 6 and the confiscation notice in Form GST MOV 10 with the following prayers. “A. This Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ of certiorari or writ in the nature of certiorari or any other appropriate writ or order quashing and setting aside impugned detention order in Form GST MOV 6 (annexed at Annexure A) as being wholly without jurisdiction, arbitrary and illegal; B. This Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order quashing and setting aside impugned confiscation notice in Form GST MOV 10 (annexed at Annexure B) as being wholly without jurisdiction, arbitrary and illegal; C. This Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order directing the 2nd Respondent authority to forthwith release goods along with truck number GJ-10-TX-6465; D. Without prejudice to the above and in the alternative this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order directing the 2nd Respondent authority to forthwith provisionally release of goods along with truck number GJ-10-TX- 6465; E. Pending notice, admission and final hearing of this petition, this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to direct the 2nd Respondent authority to forthwith release goods along with truck number GJ-10-TX-6465 and further proceedings pursuant to impugned confiscation notice (annexed at Annexure B) may please be stayed. F. Ex parte ad interim relief in terms of prayer E may kindly be granted; G. Such further relief(s) as deemed fit in the facts and circumstances of the case may kindly be granted in the interest of justice for which act of kindness your petitioners shall forever pray.

2. Brief facts of the present case are as follows:-

2.1 The petitioner is engaged in the business of trading in brass scrap and is registered under the Central / Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter be referred to as “the GST Act”).

2.2 On 05.09.2021, when the petitioner was transporting the goods from the State of Maharashtra to the State of Gujarat, according to the petitioner, the goods were accompanied by tax invoice and transport receipt as well as e-way bill.

2.3 On 06.09.2021, there was transit by respondent No.2 and the driver of the vehicle duly produced the invoice as well as away bill of the petitioner and documents in respect of other goods which were being transported.

2.4 On 06.09.2021, the requisite documents were produced, order for physical verification was passed in Form GST MOV 2. Thereafter, physical verification report was issued in Form GST MOV 4 wherein no discrepancy was found in the documents visa- vis the goods being transported. The confiscation notice in the Form GST MOV 10 had been issued on 09.09.2021 straightway under Section 130 of the GST Act on the ground that there were discrepancies in respect of some post transactions of the buyer and the buyer had claimed some wrongful input tax credit.

2.5 The petitioner inquired with the buyer through email regarding the allegations made in the confiscation notice, no proceedings whatsoever had been initiated against the buyer under the GST Act on 11.09.2021. 2.6 On 13.09.2021, the petitioner strongly objected to the detention of the goods and confiscation notice. The Circular of CBIT No.41/2018 dated 13.04.2018 has been relied upon by the petitioner wherein the Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIT) and Customs clarified that once documents tendered along with the goods, which found to be in order, the authority was bound to allow the conveyance to proceed.

2.7 The reliance is placed on the decision of this Court in the case of Shri Anant Jignesh Shah Vs. Union of India, Special Civil Application No.12712 of 2020 decided on 06.11.2020.

2.8 It is a