Unavailability of prescribed statutory forms barred vehicle detention for non-carrying them under tax law.

Where prescribed statutory forms had not been printed or made available by the authority, vehicle owners could not be required to carry those forms during transport. The Court accepted the uncontroverted assertion that the forms were unavailable and held that detention of the vehicle for non-carrying of such forms was not justified. The legal principle applied was that a statutory obligation cannot be enforced where compliance is impossible because the prescribed forms were not supplied by the competent authority. The issue was decided in favour of the assessee, and detention was disallowed.

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Issues: Whether vehicles could be detained for not carrying the prescribed forms under section 64 of the Delhi Sales Tax Act, 1975 when such forms had not been printed or made available by the prescribed authority.

Analysis: The asserted non-availability of the prescribed forms was not denied on affidavit, and the Court proceeded on the basis that the assertion was true. Where the statutory forms had not been printed or made available, the truck-owners could not be burdened with an obligation to carry those forms with the vehicle. In such a situation, detention of the vehicle for not carrying the unavailable forms was not justified.

Conclusion: The issue was answered in favour of the assessee, and the vehicles could not be detained for absence of forms that were not available from the authority.

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