2011 (4) TMI 1306
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... on the goods so seized. Since both the revisions relate to the same transaction of seizure they have been taken together. Counsel for the parties also agreed for their disposal together on merit at the very outset. M/s. RBBRL Contractor is a transporter whereas M/s. Shree Krishna Trading Company is a registered dealer of Bihar under the Bihar Value Added Tax Act. A consignment of 208 packets of footwear were said to be in transit from Delhi to Patna by means of a truck, registration No.BL - 1 DB/6777. The owner/driver of the vehicle on entering U.P. at Ghaziabad downloaded the transit declaration form from the official website of the Commercial Tax Department, U.P. on 1.2.2011 with the date of exit from U.P. as 5.2.2011. The said transi....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....or Rule 58 of the Rules. On the other hand, the submission of Sri Pandey is that the vehicle in question had previously downloaded transit declaration form on 4.1.2011, 15.1.2011 and 25.1.2011. Therefore, it was not possible for the said vehicle to have carried the goods from Delhi to Patna again when earlier it had travelled from Delhi to Patna and had passed through U.P. between 25.1.2011 and 28.1.2011. Secondly, the bilty was made first and thereafter the invoice which is against the settled practice. Thirdly, there is discrepancy in the weight of the consignment. Lastly, the dealer was not registered for dealing in footwear. All these factors also lead the department to believe that the goods are not actually sent outside U.P., rather ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....g through the State of U.P. are not accompanied by the documents prescribed that a presumption of sale within the State would arise and not otherwise. Section 48 of the Act empowers the authorities to seize the goods. The seizure can be made if the goods are not accounted for by the dealer in his accounts, registers and other documents maintained in ordinary course of his business or if the goods are not accompanied by the relevant documents provided or where the goods have been undervalued to the extent of more than 50% of the prevalent value of the goods in the local market area. It is not the case of the department that the goods were not accounted for or that they were not accompanied by the necessary documents prescribed or that the ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... there is a positive or constrictive evidence to prove that the goods were loaded from a place inside U.P. The corollary of the above is that the seizure cannot be made until and unless there is a positive evidence to show that the goods while on transit through U.P. are loaded from U.P. or are unloaded in U.P. to demonstrate their sale or purchase within the State of U.P. In view of aforesaid legal position, as it is not the case of the department that the goods were not duly accompanied by the necessary documents, in the absence of any finding of actual loading or unloading of the goods within the State of U.P., the department was not justified to seize the goods that too before the expiry of period of exit mentioned in the transit decla....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....s that the revisional jurisdiction is quite limited and may not be exercised for interfering with the finding of fact but in the present case it is not the finding recorded by the authorities below which is wrong, rather it is the jurisdictional error committed by the authorities in seizing the goods as no case for seizure of the goods was made out. Accordingly, the seizure order is liable to be set aside in exercise of revisional jurisdiction. In view of above, I hold the order of seizure dated 10.2.2011, the order dated 22.2.2011 rejecting the representation under Section 48(7) of the Act and that of the tribunal dated 30.3.2011 to be illegal and without jurisdiction. Once the seizure is held invalid, the issue as to whether the tribuna....