Transit declaration breach may attract penalty, but quantum must reflect rebuttal of the presumption of local sale.

Non-production of a transit declaration at the exit check-post raises a rebuttable presumption that the goods did not leave the State and were sold locally. That presumption can be displaced by surrounding documents and explanations showing actual out-movement. Penalty may therefore be imposed for the procedural breach, but the authority must assess whether the evidence supports dispatch outside the State before fixing the quantum. A mechanical maximum penalty for every violation is not justified where the claim of delivery outside West Bengal is not wholly disproved. The penalty was upheld in principle, but reduced because the materials did not fully negate actual movement to Madhya Pradesh.

---

---

Issues: Whether penalty for non-production of the transit declaration at the exit check-post should be sustained at the maximum rate, or reduced having regard to the evidence that the goods were in fact sent out of West Bengal.

Analysis: Non-production of the transit declaration for endorsement at the exit check-post raises a presumption that the goods did not exit the State and were sold locally. That presumption, however, is rebuttable if the importer is able to establish actual out-movement of the goods. The authority imposing penalty and the revisional authority were required to examine whether the surrounding documents and explanations supported the claim of actual delivery outside the State. A purely mechanical approach treating every violation alike was not justified. On the materials, the claim of actual dispatch to Madhya Pradesh could not be wholly rejected, although the procedural violation remained established and repeated earlier breaches were also relevant to the extent of punishment.

Conclusion: Penalty was warranted, but imposition at the maximum rate was not justified; the penalty was reduced to Rs. 1,25,000.

Ratio Decidendi: A technical violation of transit declaration requirements may attract penalty, but the quantum must be determined by considering whether the goods were in fact taken out of the State and whether the statutory presumption of local sale has been rebutted.

---