Burden of proving inter-State delivery failed where discrepant documents and non-existent parties made the transport transaction unreliable.

In penalty proceedings under the U.P. Value Added Tax Act, the Tribunal's view that a transporter had proved delivery of goods outside Uttar Pradesh was found unsustainable where the record showed major discrepancies in quantity, description and nature of goods, and the alleged consignors and purchasers were non-existent. The absence of Form-C copies and payment details, together with unreliable supporting documents, meant the burden of proving genuine inter-State movement was not discharged. Online Form-16 information from Uttarakhand, by itself, was insufficient to establish actual delivery outside the State, and the Tribunal's contrary finding was treated as perverse.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal was justified in setting aside the penalty imposed under Section 54(1)(14) of the U.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2008 on the premise that the respondent was merely a transporter and had discharged the burden of showing that the goods had reached outside the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Analysis: The revisions concerned seven similar transactions in which the trucks were intercepted with the respondent's challans and invoices of allegedly existing Delhi dealers. Physical verification revealed substantial discrepancies in the nature, quantity and description of the goods. The alleged consignors and purchasers were found non-existent, the Form-C copies were not produced, payment details were not submitted, and the only material relied upon by the Tribunal was the online information in Form-16 of Uttarakhand. Such information, by itself, was insufficient to prove actual delivery outside the State, especially when the record contained multiple adverse circumstances showing that the documents accompanying the goods were not reliable and that the transactions were not proved to be genuine.

Conclusion: The Tribunal's finding that the respondent had discharged the burden and that the goods had reached outside Uttar Pradesh was held to be perverse and unsustainable.

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