TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (11) TMI 1318
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....s a drug or a cosmetic and under which entry of the schedule to the Tripura Value Added Tax Act, 2004 (hereinafter in short, "TVAT Act") it will fall. That is a question to be decided by the Assessing Authority. 3. The issue before us is whether the respondent No. 3 had any authority to seize the goods in question. The stand of the company is that Dettol Antiseptic Liquid is manufactured either in Mysore (Karnataka) or in Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) and from there such goods are transported to the main warehouse in Guwahati from where supplies are made to the other states in the north-east. The case of the petitioner is that the goods which are the subject matter of the invoice had not been sold but were subject matter of a stock transfer between the warehouse at Guwahati to its branch office at Agartala. It is contended that no sale was involved. We make it clear that we are not deciding this question also in these proceedings. 4. The goods in question were admittedly being transferred along with many other goods in Truck No. AS01 T 4717 belonging to one Sri R Debnath. There was an invoice with the Driver of the truck. That invoice shows that a large number of items were being ....
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....ovement are without documents, or are not supported by documents as referred to in sub-section (2), or documents produced appeared to be false or forged, the officer-incharge of the check post or the officer empowered under subsection (3), may - (a) direct the driver or the person in-charge of the vehicle or carrier or of the goods not to part with the goods in any manner including by transporting or re-booking, till a verification is done or an enquiry is made, which shall not take more than seven days ; (b) seize the goods for reasons to be recorded in writing and shall give receipt of the goods to the person from whose possession or control they are seized ; (5) The Officer-in-charge of the check post or the officer empowered under sub-section (3), after having given the person in-charge of the goods a reasonable opportunity of being heard and after having held such enquiry as he may deem fit, shall impose for possession or movement of goods, whether seized or not, in violation of the provisions of clause (a) of sub-section (2) or for submission of false or forged documents in addition to tax leviable, a penalty equal to double the amount of tax, or ru....
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....b-section (4) empowers the Officer-in-Charge of the check post to either direct the driver or any person in charge of the goods not to part with the goods till verification is done or seize the goods. However, subsection (4) will come into application only under two circumstances, (i) where no documents are produced and (ii) where the documents on the face of it appear to be false or forged. Thereafter, if the documents are not produced or are false or forged, the Officer-in-Charge of the check post after assessing the goods can give a hearing and can assess the tax and penalty. 9. This provision of law has been the subject matter of a decision by this Court in M/s Ruchi soya Industries Ltd., Vs. The State of Tripura and Ors., in CRP 76/2009 wherein after quoting the provisions of Section 67(4),(5),(6) and (7) this Court held as follows:- "........A bare perusal of the aforesaid provisions shows that under sub-section (4) of Section 67 where the goods are being transported without documents or are not supported by documents specifically mentioned in sub-section (2) then the officer-in-charge of the check post or the officer empowered can seize the goods. Such officer ca....
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....harge of the vehicle not to part with the goods, in any manner, till verification is done or an inquiry is made. Therefore, if the officer-in-charge of the check post has some doubt with regard to the value of the goods, he should preferably follow the first rule. Seizure of the goods is a penal action and normally seizure should only be done where the goods are not accompanied by any document or the documents on the face of it are forged. Where the only difference is with regard to the value of the goods, the officer should not normally seize the goods but should direct the driver or the person in-charge not to sell them till verification of the price is made. In many cases like the present case, where the registered dealers are transporting the goods, it may not be necessary to seize the goods. The value of the goods can be noted down and the goods can be handed over to the driver or the person-in-charge of the vehicle under a surety bond that after they are taken to the destination they shall be produced before the concerned taxation officer. The seizure of goods should be the last resort and not the first action to be taken by the officer-in-charge of the check post. In the pre....