TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1998 (3) TMI 660
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....x Office, Asansol issued by the Inspector of Commercial Taxes, Asansol Charge for transportation of the commodity. The driver of the vehicle No. RJ-19G-3343 carrying the consignment handed over all the documents including the two sales tax permits to the helper to produce the same before the check-post authorities. He took the vehicle to a nearby hotel and, as per allegedly the common practice at the check-post, was waiting for the khalasi. Respondent No. 1 found the vehicle and the driver standing at a dhaba. The driver of the vehicle told respondent No. 1 that all the documents including the sales tax permits were in the possession of his khalasi who was standing in a queue at the check-post to get the documents endorsed. The respondent No. 1 asked the driver of the vehicle to take the vehicle to the check-post. After reaching the check-post the respondent No. 1 forced him to write a declaration according to their dictation and took all the papers from the khalasi. The respondent No. 1 intercepted the vehicle on May 8, 1997 at 20.15 hours; seized the consignment on May 9, 1997 at 20.15 hours and issued the seizure list to the driver on May 10, 1997. 3.. After seizure, the resp....
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....ales tax permit in support of import of the consignments loaded in his truck. 5.. It is emphatically denied that the declaration filed by the driver before the respondent No. 1 was made under coercion. The driver of the said vehicle wrote the said declaration as per his free-will to submit the true fact before the respondent No. 1 when he was asked to produce relevant papers including the sales tax permit in support of the consignment, after physical checking. As per declaration of the driver, there was no khalasi in the said vehicle and hence the question of taking all the relevant papers from the khalasi by the respondent No. 1 does not arise. It is submitted that 48 hours is the maximum time which is allowed in cases where the necessary sales tax permit has already been obtained but the same could not be produced due to some unavoidable circumstances beyond the control of the person/driver who carried the goods at the time of interception. Again the person/driver is required to pray for time in writing before the concerned authority. In the instant case the driver himself confessed that there was no sales tax permit in his possession. No such prayer for time for production of....
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.... could not have been the correct position as it is obvious that a truck coming all the way from Rajasthan cannot operate without a helper or khalasi. He further pointed out that if the respondents' story is to be believed, then they required 30 minutes to chase the truck which was located at a distance of 2½ kilometres. Considering the alleged distance of 2½ kilometres the period of 30 minutes was an excessive one when it is considered that the respondents were travelling in a car. Mr. Ghosh further submitted that in the Deputy Commissioner's order it has been mentioned that the name of the vehicle was not mentioned on the body of the permit and from this he has come to the conclusion that the intention of the petitioner was a mala fide one. The Deputy Commissioner has also suspected that the petitioner had the plan to utilize the permit for bringing another consignment of the same specified goods. Mr. Ghosh submitted that the vehicle number could not be incorporated in the permits as the permits were secured on April 28, 1997. On that day the consignments were available but the number of the vehicle by which the consignment was to be sent was not available. Number of....
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.... 9.. We need not go into the arguments about the correctness of the alleged sales tax permit, etc., because the point to be decided here is quite simple. The point to be decided is whether the check-post authorities had obtained the relevant documents including sales tax permits from the khalasi of the vehicle and thereafter denied it, as alleged by the applicant or whether the driver had run away from the check-post without any production of any document whatsoever. In this connection, the respondents have relied upon the statement which, according to them, has been made by the driver on his own. If this statement is to be believed, then there was no sales tax permit available with the driver. There is no mention about the presence of any khalasi in the vehicle of the driver. If this statement is true, then the question whether the driver had the permit in his possession would be clearly decided in favour of the Revenue. It will be seen from the order of the Commercial Tax Officer dated May 10, 1997 that Shri Banerjee, learned advocate filed a written submission before the C.T.O. and on being asked, the learned advocate informed that M/s. Pradeep Enterprise is the owner of the sei....