TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (5) TMI 363
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....iwandighi, Palitpur Road, Burdwan, West Bengal. 3. According to the petitioner no. 1, a tax invoice was generated by the said N.N. Ispat Pvt. Ltd., on 9th May, 2023, which is appearing at page 20 of the writ petition. Simultaneously, for transporting the said goods from Burdwan to the Siliguri e-way bills were also generated. Validity of such e-way bills had to be extended from time to time and the same remained valid till 17th May, 2023. Simultaneously, the petitioner no. 1 had also raised e-tax invoice bearing barcode which is appearing at page 26 of the writ petition. Consequently, the petitioner no. 1 had also generated e-way bills for transporting of the contracted goods to the aforesaid M/s City Developers Private Limited, being the consignee. 4. According to the petitioners, the e-way bill generated by the petitioner no. 1 remained valid up to 12th May, 2023, 11.59 P.M. Unfortunately, before the consignment could reach M/s City Developers Private Limited, the e-way bill which remained valid till 11.59 P.M., of 12th May, 2023 expired. Incidentally, the goods in question were intercepted on 13th May, 2023 before the validity of the said e-way bill could extended by the petit....
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....the judgment delivered by the Hon'ble Kerala High Court in the case of Hindustan Steel and Cement N. H. Karimbilangadi v. Assistant State Tax Officer, reported in 2022 TaxScan (HC) 609. He submits the Hon'ble Kerala High Court having considered the above issue had concluded that payment of penalty under Section 129(1) (a) or (b) of the said Act does not absolve the adjudicating authority from passing an order under Section 129(3) of the said Act, and taking note of the provisions of Section 107 of the said Act, it was held that it is always open to a person aggrieved from the said order to prefer an appeal therefrom. In the instant case, there was no deliberate and willful default on the part of the petitioners to extend the validity of the e-way bill as such the respondents ought not to have imposed the penalty. 10. From the documents on record, inter alia, including the physical verification report, the order of detention and the show-cause notice, it would not appear that there is no other allegation, apart from the non-extension of the e-way bill. By placing before this Court an unreported judgment delivered by the Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court in the case of Asina Swit....
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....Taxmann 89 SC it is submitted in an identical set of facts, the Hon'ble Supreme Court was, inter alia, pleased to observe that the appellant cannot shirk from its responsibilities to comply with the requirement of law to generate e-way bill. Having regard to the aforesaid he submits that the present writ petition should be dismissed as no case for interference has been made out. 14. Heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties and considered the materials on record. Admittedly, in this case it is noticed that the goods in question which were in transit from Bardhaman to Siliguri, were covered by tax invoice and e-way bill. Before the said goods could reach the consignee and was on transit, the e-way bill expired on 12th May 2023 at about 11.59 P.M. The goods were not only intercepted on the following day but an order of detention under Section 129(1) of the said Act was passed. The same was subsequently followed by notice under Section 129(1) of the said Act. From the aforesaid documents which are already on record, it would appear that no other allegation apart from the expiry of the e-way bill is noted. It may be seen that the petitioners in terms of Section ....
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.... in Saw Pipes Limited (supra). The Supreme Court has held in such authorities that, mens rea is not an essential ingredient for contravention of the provisions of a civil act. It has also held that, penalty is directed since the contravention of the statutory provisions as contemplated by a statute is established and therefore, the intention of the parties committing such violation becomes immaterial. The breach of civil obligations which attracts penalty under the provision of a statute would immediately attract levy of the penalty irrespective of the fact whether the contravention has been made by the defaulter with any guilty intention or not. In none of these three authorities the Supreme Court had the occasion to consider the provisions of the Act of 2017." 18. Having regard to the aforesaid, it would be clear that in all the three cases, i.e., Chairman SEBI v. Shriram Mutual Fund & Another reported in (2006) 5 SCC 361., Guljag Industries v. Commercial Tax Officer reported in (2007) 7 SCC 269, and in State of Gujrat and Anr v. Saw Pipes Limited reported in 2023 SCC Online SC 428, the Hon'ble Supreme Court had no occasion to consider the provisions of the said Act. I may, how....