Natural justice requirements necessitate notice to affected parties; however, notice to the driver suffices, supporting reliance on alternative statutory remedies for contesting orders.

ORDER :

BHARGAV D. KARIA, J.

1. Heard learned advocate Mr. Sameer Gupta with learned advocate Mr. Monal Chaglani for the petitioner and learned Assistant Government Pleader Ms. Shrunjal Shah for the respondent Nos. 3 to 5.

2. By this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs:

“a. Certiorari quashing the MOV 11 (Detention order dated 01.10.2024 (Annexure A to the Writ Petition);

(b) Certiorari quashing and Summary Order form GST DRC-07 dated 30.10.2024 (Annexure B to the Writ Petition);

(c) Pending notice, admission and final hearing of the petition, this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to direct the learned Respondent Authorities to forthwith release goods along with vehicle No. RJ23 GC 1469 detained/seized in purported exercise of powers under Section 129 of the GST Acts;

(d) Issue any other Writ, Order or Direction in favour of the Petitioner which this Hon’ble Court deems fit in the facts and circumstances of the case;”

3. Brief facts of the case are as under:

3.1 It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner is a buyer of the goods (Arecanuts) sold by one M/s. Himachal Traders.

3.2 It is the case of the petitioner that the conveyance carrying the goods purchased by the petitioner was accompanied with Tax Invoice No. 008 dated 03.09.2024 along with E-way Bill No. 1619 30937638 generated on 03.09.2024, valid up to 14.09.2024.

3.3 It is also the case of the petitioner that the consignment was intercepted by respondent No.5 on 05.09.2024 at Rangpur and statement of the driver was recorded in FORM GST MOV-01 and it was also recorded that the goods were being transported from Delhi to Bengaluru. 3.4 Respondent No.5 thereafter passed an order for physical verification/ inspection of the conveyance and documents in FORM GST MOV-02 on the ground that the genuineness of the goods in transit and the accompanied documents were required further verification.

3.5 After conducting the physical verification, a report was prepared in FORM GST MOV-04 on 08.09.2024.

3.6 On 08.09.2024, a detention order in FORM GST MOV-06 under section 129(1) of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 [‘GST Act] for short read with section 20 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act,2017 [‘IGST Act’ for short] was passed by respondent No.5.

3.7 On 14.09.2024, respondent No.5 issued a show-cause notice in FORM GST MOV-10 under section 130 of the GST Act asking the petitioner to show cause as to why the goods in question along with conveyance should not be confiscated.

3.8 It is the case of the petitioner that without serving the notice upon the petitioner, the impugned order in GST MOV- 11 dated 01.10.2024 was passed confirming the demand of penalty and fine as proposed in the show-cause notice.

3.9 When the petitioner came to know about the confiscation proceedings from the driver of the conveyance, the petitioner approached respondent No.5 for getting the goods and vehicle released. Respondent No.5 granted temporary registration to the petitioner on 18.10.2024. On 25.10.2024, respondent No.5 issued a final reminder letter to the seller and the petitioner regarding non-payment of penalty and fine.

3.10 On 29.10.2024, the petitioner filed an objection to the reminder letter stating that despite passing the confiscation order, respondent No.5 did not issue the summary order in FORM GST DRC-07, as provided under Rule 142(5) of the Goods and Service Tax Rules,2017 [‘the GST Rule’ for short].

3.11 Thereafter, upon receipt of the letter dated 29.10.2024 of the petitioner, the respondent No.5 served all the documents on temporary GST Registration of the petitioner on 30.10.2024 and also issued summary notice in