E-way bill expiry alone cannot justify detention where a vehicle's delayed delivery results from breakdown without tax evasion.

Detention of a vehicle and goods solely because the e-way bill expired shortly before inspection was described as improper where the vehicle had reached the destination city within its validity period but could not complete the remaining journey because of a breakdown. The notes state that no tax evasion or other contravention was identified, and treating the e-way bill expiry alone as sufficient for detention was hyper-technical. The stated conclusion is that detention and continuation of proceedings were improper, favouring the assessee.

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Issues: Whether detention of a vehicle and goods solely because the e-way bill expired shortly before inspection was lawful where the vehicle had reached the destination city but could not reach the delivery point owing to breakdown.

Analysis: The detention order disclosed no ground other than expiry of the e-way bill. The vehicle had reached Vijayawada within the validity period and was unable to travel the remaining distance of less than eight kilometres because of breakdown. In the absence of tax evasion or any other contravention, invoking the detention power solely on this basis was hyper-technical and improper.

Conclusion: The detention and continuation of proceedings were held improper; the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

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