Consignment-specific declaration compliance under West Bengal transport rules was mandatory, with penalty reduced for mitigating circumstances.

Compliance with the declaration requirement under rule 223 is consignment-specific: the document must accompany goods bound for a destination outside West Bengal, and the presence of another intra-State consignment in the same vehicle does not excuse non-compliance. Actual delivery outside the State does not erase the breach because the provision is preventive and aimed at checking possible evasion, not proving completed evasion. The transporter was therefore liable for contravention of section 72 read with rule 223, but mitigating factors such as stock transfer, perishability of the goods, and the State acting as a corridor justified reduction of the penalty as excessive.

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Issues: Whether the transporter's failure to carry the declaration required for goods bound outside West Bengal amounted to contravention of section 72 read with rule 223, and whether the penalty imposed should be sustained in full or reduced.

Analysis: The declaration contemplated by rule 223 is required in relation to the consignment carried for a destination outside West Bengal, not to the vehicle as such. The existence of another consignment in the same vehicle for delivery within West Bengal did not excuse non-compliance. Actual delivery of the goods outside the State did not wipe out the breach, because the provision is preventive and is aimed at checking the possibility of evasion, not proving completed evasion. At the same time, the transaction was a stock transfer, the goods were perishable, and the State was functioning only as a corridor, which constituted mitigating circumstances relevant to the quantum of penalty.

Conclusion: There was a clear contravention of section 72 read with rule 223, and the transporter was not absolved of liability. However, the penalty was held excessive and was reduced from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 1 lakh.

Ratio Decidendi: Compliance with the statutory declaration requirement is consignment-specific and failure to furnish it attracts penalty even absent proof of actual tax evasion, though mitigating circumstances may justify reduction of the penalty amount.

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