Statutory preconditions for seizure must be met; unauthorised seizure cannot support consequential penalty proceedings.

Seizure under section 13-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act is permissible only when the statutory conditions are satisfied, such as inability to trace the goods to a bona fide dealer or doubt about proper accounting. A mere allegation of intra-State sale or undervaluation does not by itself justify seizure, so the seizure was held without jurisdiction. Because the seizure was unauthorised, penalty proceedings founded on that seizure could not stand and were quashed as consequential action unsupported by a valid statutory basis.

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Issues: (i) Whether the seizure of the consignment was authorised under section 13-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act; (ii) Whether penalty proceedings based on such seizure could stand.

Issue (i): Whether the seizure of the consignment was authorised under section 13-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The power of seizure under section 13-A could be exercised only where the goods could not be traced to a bona fide dealer or where there was doubt whether they were properly accounted for in the dealer's books or documents. The notice relied only on the allegation that the sale was intra-State and that the goods were undervalued. That allegation did not satisfy the statutory conditions for seizure, and no other lawful basis for seizure was shown.

Conclusion: The seizure was without jurisdiction and could not be sustained.

Issue (ii): Whether penalty proceedings based on such seizure could stand.

Analysis: Once the seizure itself was found to be unauthorised, proceedings said to follow from breach of section 13-A could not be maintained. The validity of the seizure was the foundation for the consequential action, and that foundation had failed.

Conclusion: The consequential penalty proceedings were unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded because the statutory preconditions for seizure were absent, and the proceedings initiated on that basis were quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: A seizure under section 13-A can be made only upon satisfaction of the statutory conditions authorising seizure, and consequential proceedings cannot survive where the seizure itself is without jurisdiction.

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