Provisional release under GST declined where confiscation orders stood unchallenged and disputed facts required statutory remedies.
Where confiscation orders are not challenged and entitlement to release depends on disputed facts about documents, the High Court will ordinarily decline to grant provisional release in writ jurisdiction. The proper course is to pursue the statutory remedies under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, including release by the proper officer where permissible under Section 130(7) or an appeal under Section 107. Article 226 relief was treated as inappropriate in these circumstances, and the parties were left to work out remedies under the statutory framework.
Issues: Whether provisional release of the detained vehicles could be directed in a writ petition when the confiscation orders were not challenged, and whether the petitioners should instead be relegated to statutory remedies.
Analysis: The prayer was for provisional release of vehicles intercepted for transportation of goods without the necessary documents. Confiscation orders had already been passed, but those orders were not assailed in the writ petition. In the presence of disputed questions regarding production of documents, the proper course was found to lie under the statutory mechanism, including release by the proper officer where permissible under Section 130(7) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, or an appeal under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The writ remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution of India was held to be inappropriate in these circumstances.
Conclusion: Provisional release was declined, and the petitioners were relegated to pursue the statutory remedies available under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
Final Conclusion: The writ petition did not result in judicial release of the vehicles and was disposed of by directing the petitioners to work out their remedies under the statutory framework.
Ratio Decidendi: Where confiscation orders are not challenged and the controversy turns on disputed facts, the High Court will ordinarily decline provisional relief in writ jurisdiction and leave the parties to the statutory remedies provided by the taxing statute.
TaxTMI 
AI Drafter ✕
TaxTMI 
