Statutory seizure powers under VAT law require strict compliance with notified check-post conditions; highway detention was unlawful.

Statutory seizure and detention powers under the Gujarat VAT regime must be exercised only at a notified check-post or barrier and only in the circumstances expressly authorised by the Act. A mobile check-post created on administrative directions was not a notified check-post or barrier, so interception on the express highway did not satisfy section 68. Section 69 also did not apply because the vehicle was not stopped at the State exit point and the transit-pass conditions in that provision were not met. As the seizure memo showed detention for verification of tax liability rather than the grounds permitted by section 68(4), the detention of the truck and goods was without authority of law.

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Issues: Whether the seizure memo detaining the truck and goods was valid when the vehicle was intercepted at a place other than a check-post or barrier notified under section 68 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003, and whether section 69 could justify the detention.

Analysis: Section 68 permits seizure and detention only in the circumstances contemplated by that provision and at a check-post or barrier set up pursuant to a notification in the Official Gazette. A mobile check-post created only on directions of the Additional Commissioner of Enforcement was not a check-post or barrier within the meaning of the statute. The vehicle was stopped on the express highway and not at the exit point from the State, so section 69, which creates a presumption only when the transit pass is not delivered or the goods are not found in accordance with it at the place of exit, had no application. The seizure memo itself showed that the detention was for verification of tax liability and not on the grounds specified in section 68(4).

Conclusion: The detention of the truck and goods was without authority of law and the seizure memo was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Statutory powers of seizure and detention must strictly conform to the conditions and locations expressly authorized by the taxing statute, and action taken outside that framework is ultra vires.

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