Rule 211A declaration obligations can trigger penalty and a rebuttable presumption of intra-State disposal when not produced.

A person who signs the declaration required for taking delivery of goods for despatch outside West Bengal assumes the statutory obligations under rule 211A and section 68 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994. The text states that section 68(3) applies to "any person", not only a transporter, and that failure to produce the endorsed counter-signed declaration before the competent authority raises a rebuttable presumption that the goods were consumed, used, or otherwise disposed of within the State. It further states that non-production of the endorsed declaration attracts penalty under section 71B, because the regulatory declaration scheme is treated as integral to preventing tax evasion.

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Issues: Whether a customs house agent who signed the declaration under rule 211A of the West Bengal Sales Tax Rules, 1995 was liable for penalty for non-production of the endorsed counter-signed declaration and for contravention of section 68 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994 read with rule 211A.

Analysis: Section 68(3) uses the expression "any person" and is not confined to a transporter. Rule 211A requires the person taking delivery of goods for despatch outside West Bengal to make the prescribed declaration, and the declaration itself imposes an obligation to transport the consignment to its destination outside the State. The scheme of the Act and Rules treats the regulatory machinery as integral to preventing tax evasion. Non-production of the endorsed counter-signed declaration before the competent authority raises a legal presumption that the goods were consumed, used, or otherwise disposed of within West Bengal, unless rebutted. The appellant, having signed the declaration, could not disown the obligations undertaken therein, and the failure to produce the endorsed declaration attracted penalty under section 71B. Section 72 had no application on the facts, but that did not assist the appellant because the liability arose under section 68 and rule 211A.

Conclusion: The customs house agent was liable for penalty, and the challenge to the penalty order failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A person who signs the declaration required for taking delivery of goods for onward transport outside West Bengal assumes the statutory obligation to comply with rule 211A, and failure to produce the endorsed declaration before the authority gives rise to a rebuttable presumption of tax evasion and consequent penalty under section 71B.

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