Deemed ownership under GST records cannot be denied merely because invoices and e-way bills show only the trade name.

Official GST records showing a business as a proprietorship can establish the petitioner as the proprietor and deemed owner of detained goods, even if the invoice and e-way bill mention only the trade name. The High Court noted that ownership could not be denied solely because the individual name did not appear separately in those documents when the department's own records reflected the legal name, trade name, constitution of business, and Aadhaar authentication. The penalty order therefore could not stand on the reasoning adopted by the authority, and the matter had to be reconsidered under the provision applicable to the owner of the goods.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was to be treated as the deemed owner of the detained goods on the basis of the official GST records and, consequently, whether the penalty order could stand only under the provision applicable to the owner of the goods.

Analysis: The order impugned proceeded on the premise that the petitioner had failed to establish ownership merely because his individual name did not appear in the invoice and e-way bill, and for that reason the benefit of the provision applicable to the owner of the goods was denied. The record, however, showed that the GST registration certificate described the business as a proprietorship and the department's own online record reflected the legal name of the business, trade name, constitution of business, and Aadhaar authentication. In that situation, the petitioner could not be denied recognition as the proprietor and deemed owner of the goods only on the ground that the invoice and e-way bill mentioned the trade name.

Conclusion: The petitioner was entitled to be treated as the deemed owner of the goods, and the penalty order could not be sustained on the basis adopted by the authority; the matter required reconsideration under the provision applicable to the owner of the goods.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the department's own GST records establish that the consignor or consignee is a proprietorship of the petitioner, the petitioner cannot be denied the status of deemed owner of the goods merely because the individual name is not separately shown in the invoice or e-way bill.

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