2005 Supreme(All) 235
ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT
Rajes Kumar, J.
Murliwala Agrotech Limited
Versus
Commissioner of Trade Tax
Trade Tax Revision 115 of 2005
Decided On : 11 February 2005
Trade Tax Revision 115 Of 2005
R.R.AGRAWAL, Suyash Agrawal,
The central legal point established is the right to free movement of goods and the use of machinery provisions under Section 28-B to prevent tax evasion.
Headnote:
Trade Tax - Seizure of Goods - U. P. Trade Tax Act, Section 11
Fact of the Case:
The goods were seized and a demand of security at Rs. 1,20,000/- was made for the release of goods. The Tribunal confirmed the seizure based on discrepancies in the documents and the suspicion of tax evasion.
Finding of the Court:
The court found the seizure to be arbitrary and based on irrelevant grounds. It emphasized the right to free movement of goods and the machinery provisions to prevent tax evasion under Section 28-B of the Act.
Issues: The issues revolved around the validity of the seizure, the interpretation of Section 28-B of the Act, and the authority's discretion in issuing transit passes.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the seizure was unjustified as the goods were intended for transit through the State of U. P. and there was no evidence of tax evasion. It emphasized the machinery provisions under Section 28-B to prevent tax evasion.
Final Decision: The court allowed the revision, quashed the seizure order, directed the release of goods, and imposed a cost of Rs. 10,000/- on the check post officer for arbitrary seizure.
( 1 ) PRESENT revision under Section 11 of U. P. Trade Tax Act (hereinafter preferred to as "act"), is directed against the order of Tribunal dated 04. 02. 2005 by which Tribunal has confirmed the seizure of the goods and the demand of security at Rs. 1,20,000/- for the release of goods.
( 2 ) BRIEF facts of the case are that the goods loaded in vehicle No. UA-12/4513 reached at maharajpur on 09. 01. 2005 and on the basis of the documents namely, challan No. 1312 dated 05. 01. 2005, builty No. 11051 dated 05. 01. 2005, the driver of the vehicle requested for the issue of trip sheet (hereinafter referred to as "transit Pass") for the movement of the goods through the State of U. P. to Uttaranchal. It appears that in pursuance of the order dated 10. 09. 2004 given by the department of ICDS, Uttaranchal, Dehradun, 599 bags Cereal Based Blanded Food were despatched from the factory situated at Industrial Area Gudli, Udaipur (Rajasthan) to director, icds, Uttaranchal, Government of Uttaranchal. At the time of seeking Transit Pass, Form-32, which is declaration of import prescribed by the Uttaranchal Government under the Trade Tax act was also produced. However, Transit Pass was denied and the goods were detained and show cause notice was issued on the ground that for the issuance of Transit Pass, G. R. No. 11051 dated 05. 01. 2005 for 599 bags sattu, challan No. 1312 dated 05. 01. 2005 and Form-32 No. 021296/201 were produced in which name of goods mentioned was "sattu" while on verification it was found that in the packing, constituent of the goods mention was wheat, soyabeen, rice, sugar, vitamin and mineral. It was further stated that on enquiry it was stated that the goods was being imported through Mewar Goods Carrier, Udaipur from Udaipur to Uttaranchal in vehicle no. HR-47-9203 but in the GR no instruction was issued to the driver for the transfer of the goods at U. P. Border nor in the U. P. Border any new GR was issued and on this basis it was inferred that the goods was being imported for unregistered and non-bonafide dealer on the garb of the transit pass with an intent to evade the tax In the supplementary show cause notice it was mentioned that in challan there was a seal of Commercial Tax Officer, Alwar, Rajasthan but there was no serial number and signature of authority. Applicant filed reply to the show cause notice, which was not accepted and the goods were seized vide order dated 13. 01. 2005 and a sum of Rs. 1,20,000/- was demanded as security. Applicant filed application under the Proviso to section 13-A (6) of the Act before Deputy Commissioner, Trade Tax Check Post, Mohan Nagar, ghaziabad, which was rejected vide order dated 24. 01. 2005. Applicant further filed appeal before Tribunal, which has been rejected by the impugned order.
( 3 ) HEARD learned counsel for the parties and perused the order of the Tribunal and the authorities below.
( 4 ) TRIBUNAL has confirmed the seizure of the goods on the ground that initially good was loaded in vehicle No. HR-47-9203 from Rajasthan, as per challan and builty, which was subsequently transferred in vehicle No. UA-12/4513. It has been observed that in the invoice there was no mention that the goods was to be transferred to another vehicle. Tribunal observed that it has not been explained that why the goods were transferred to another vehicle. Tribunal further observed that on physical verification in place of "sattu" different good namely, a mixture of wheat, soyabeen, vitamin and mineral were found while in the challan "cereal Based Blanded Food (Sattu)" has been declared. It has been further observed that the builty is made for Uttaranchal but the place of Uttaranchal is not mentioned in the builty for which no proper explanation was given. It is further observed that the authority below has also mentioned in their order that in the builty there was a seal of Commercial Tax Officer, Shahjahanpur, Alwar (Rajasthan), in which the date mentioned was 01.