IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE ZIYAD RAHMAN A.A.

TH WEDNESDAY, THE 6 DAY OF AUGUST 2025 / 15TH SRAVANA, 1947 WP(C) NO. 23712 OF 2022 PETITIONER/S:

M/S. RRJ GOLD, AGED 58 YEARS

10/492/1, THANJAN TOWER, PUTHANPALLY, THRISSUR -

680001 , REPRESENTED BY C.K. RAJAN, PARTNER.

BY ADVS.

SMT.MEERA V.MENON SRI.R.SREEJITH SMT.K.KRISHNA RESPONDENT/S:

1 THE STATE TAX OFFICER (INTELLIGENCE), SGST DEPARTMENT, SQUAD NO. II, ALAPPUZHA AT 1ST FLOOR, MINI CIVIL STATION, CHENGANNUR,-689121

2 STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY, TAXES DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695001 BY ADV GOVERNMENT PLEADER OTHER PRESENT:

SRI. ARUN AJAY SHANKAR-GP THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 06.08.2025, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:

J U D G M E N T

The petitioner is a registered tax payer under CGST and SGST Act and is engaged in the sales of gold and gold ornaments. This writ petition is submitted by the petitioner, being aggrieved by Ext.P10 order passed by the 1^st respondent under Sec.130 of the CGST Act, by which, confiscation was ordered in respect of gold recovered from one of the staff of the petitioner, during transit.

2. The facts that led to the filing of this writ petition are as follows:- According to the petitioner, they have a principal place at Thrissur and a branch at Kottayam. As part of the business, the petitioner, had to transport 694.460 gms of melted old gold and 27.200 gms of 24 carat of standard gold from its Kottayam branch to the principal place of business at Thrissur. On 09.06.2022, during such transit through one of the staff of the petitioner, the said person was intercepted and proceedings under Sec.130 were initiated. According to the petitioner, Ext.P2 and P3 were the delivery challans in respect of the said goods in transit. In Ext.P2, the description of the goods was old gold and the quantity was 694.460, whereas in Ext.P3, the description was shown as standard gold and the quantity was 27.200 gms. The HSN Code is 7113. As part of the Ext.P4 proceedings, Form GST MOV 01 was issued, in which, the transport was specifically mentioned as from Kottayam to Thrissur and the description of the commodity was referred to as old gold and standard gold. However, in Form GST MOV 02, the order for physical verification of the goods, it was specified that, the goods intercepted is bullion having HSN 7108. Even though the person in charge has produced a delivery challan for the old gold weighing 694.460 gms, the same was found by the authority concerned, to have no nexus with the goods intercepted. Ext.P6 is the physical verification report where the description of the goods in the conveyance was described as old gold having quantity of 29.84 gms and the bullion with quantity of 691.87 gms.

3. In response to the notices, the petitioner submitted a reply, asserting that, what is recovered is melted old gold, having a quantity of 694.460 gms and with respect to the 24 carat standard gold having a quantity of 27.200 gms, they omitted to keep the delivery challan while the transportation was being made. Based on the same, they sought to drop the proceedings of Ext.P3 initiated.

4. As a part of further proceedings, a notice under Sec.130 of the CGST was issued as evidenced by Ext.P8, wherein, the 1^st respondent proposed to initiate con proceedings, mainly on the ground that, what was recovered from the person in charge was bullion, and not old gold as claimed by the petitioner.

5. The petitioner submitted Ext.P9 reply, answering to the proposal made, by reiterating that the article recovered was bullion and not melted old gold. However, rejecting the said contention, Ext.P10 order was passed, confirming the proposal of confiscation and thereby ordering confiscation of the gold, and also providing the petitioner an option to pay a penalty of Rs. 1,13,365/- as CGST , Rs.1,13,365/- GST as per section 122(1) of CGST/SGST Act 2017, along with fine to th