Fixed penalty for transport without prescribed documents applies under GST; enhanced tax-linked penalty is unsustainable absent proved evasion.

Transporting taxable goods without the prescribed documents falls within the specific contravention covered by Section 122(xiv) of the CGST Act, for which the statute prescribes a fixed penalty of Rs. 10,000. An enhanced penalty equal to tax is not warranted unless the facts establish tax evasion or another default attracting that higher measure. Because no proved evasion or comparable basis for the greater penalty was shown, the penalty could not exceed the fixed amount and had to be aligned with the proportionality of the lapse.

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Issues: Whether the penalty imposed for transporting taxable goods without the prescribed documents was confined to the fixed penalty under Section 122(xiv) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and whether imposition of penalty equal to the tax was without jurisdiction.

Analysis: The breach was found to fall within Section 122(xiv), which specifically covers transport of taxable goods without the specified documents. For that contravention, the statutory penalty is a fixed sum of Rs. 10,000, whereas the higher penalty linked to tax evasion or similar defaults applies only to the other situations enumerated in Section 122. Since the case did not involve any proved tax evasion or a dispute warranting penalty equivalent to tax, the authority could not impose such an enhanced penalty. The principles governing penalty also required proportionality to the nature of the lapse.

Conclusion: The enhanced penalty was unsustainable and was reduced to the fixed penalty of Rs. 10,000 for the breach under Section 122(xiv).

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