Time-bound GST detention adjudication and provisional release required once Rule 140 conditions are complied with.

Where goods are detained under the GST enactments, adjudication under section 129 must be completed expeditiously, and the detained goods are to be released once the prescribed conditions for provisional release are met. Applying an earlier Division Bench decision in an identical matter, the HC directed time-bound completion of the section 129 adjudication and ordered release of the goods forthwith upon compliance with Rule 140(1) of the Kerala GST Rules, 2017. The operative effect is that detention cannot continue indefinitely where the statutory conditions for release are satisfied.

---

---

Issues: Whether the detained goods were liable to be released pending adjudication under section 129 and the applicable rules, and whether the adjudication had to be completed within a fixed time.

Analysis: The petition concerned goods detained by the tax authorities under section 129 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Kerala State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Relying on the earlier Division Bench decision in an identical matter, the Court directed that the adjudication under section 129 be completed expeditiously. The Court further directed that, upon compliance with Rule 140(1) of the Kerala Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, the detained goods be released forthwith.

Conclusion: The petitioner was entitled to time-bound adjudication and release of the detained goods on compliance with the prescribed rule.

Ratio Decidendi: Where goods are detained under section 129 of the GST enactments, the authority must complete adjudication expeditiously and release of the goods follows upon compliance with the prescribed conditions for provisional release.

---