TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (3) TMI 1013
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....CSF, Chandigarh from Pabhat, Dera Bassi (Punjab) to Parwanoo (Himachal Pradesh). The drivers of the trucks did not report at the Information Collection Centre, while leaving the limits of State of Punjab and took the vehicles through escape route. The trucks were apprehended by the Excise and Taxation Officer, Mobile Wing, Punjab. As the papers produced by the drivers appeared to be suspicious to the authority, therefore, the goods were detained. Consequently, a show-cause notice dated July 30, 2005 (annexure P3/T) was issued in this regard to the assessee. In pursuance of the show-cause notice, the company secretary appeared before the designated officer on August 5, 2005 with the request to release the goods in question against the bank ....
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....following substantial questions of law: "(A) Whether the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner has travelled beyond his jurisdiction while imposing penalty under section 51(7)(c) of the Punjab VAT Act, 2005 when the goods were detained by the detaining officer on the short ground of nonproduction of form VAT-XXXVI issued by any ICC ignoring the fact that the State Government has not established any ICC on Pabhat to Shimla Road via Panchkula? (B) Whether penalty could be imposed under section 51(7)(c) of the Punjab VAT Act, 2005 when the goods were sent to Himachal Pradesh by way of stock transfer and for sale on consignment basis which is permissible under section 6A of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 and no tax of the State is invol....
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.... apprehended by the Excise and Taxation Officer, Mobile Wing, Punjab. As the documents produced by the drivers were suspected to be ingenuine, therefore, the goods were detained. The bare perusal of the record would reveal that the assessee failed to produce the relevant documents before the designated officer despite adequate opportunities. As per provisions of section 51 of the Act, the persons in charge of the goods were required to produce the documents at the ICC Barrier, but they lacked in this context. The case was re-examined and the detaining officer again, inter alia, reported that the assessee failed to produce the relevant documents, pertaining to the consignment/branch transfer. Again, it is not a matter of dispute that the goo....
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.... by the appellant-company at Parwanoo. If it was so, the retail invoices were not required. Moreover, in all these invoices, buyers order Nos. had been also recorded. All this shows that the goods were being sent on buyers' order, while invoices were issued in favour of its office, by the appellant-company, with an intent to evade tax." Therefore, we see no legal infirmity in the finding recorded by the appellate authorities. Once, it is proved that neither the assessee reported the goods meant for trade at the ICC barrier adopting the escape route nor produced the indicated relevant documents before the detaining or designated officer, then the intention of the assessee to avoid/evade the tax is inevitable, in the obtaining circumstan....