Rumki Biswas Vs Senior Joint Commissioner (Calcutta High Court)
The Hon’ble Calcutta High Court in Rumki Biswas v. Senior Joint Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, Budge Budge Charge & others set aside the order passed by the appellate authority dated 5th June, 2022, Thereby, remanding back to the matter to the appellate authority for fresh consideration on the aspect as to whether there was any willful intention on the part of the appellant to evade payment of duty as the matter is entirely factual.
The Learned Writ Court was of the view that to establish the bona fides of the appellant and to prove that there was no intention to evade payment of duty taking note of the peculiar facts and circumstances the appellant should be entitled to place all the materials in support of their claim before the appellate authority. The appellant submitted that the driver was carrying part B of e-way bill in respect of which part A which had been cancelled since the goods could not be loaded into the vehicle when the vehicle was intercepted; however, in generating a fresh part B within two hours of detention of goods would clearly show that there was no intention to evade payment of duty. The disputed question was that whether there was any intention on the part of the appellant to evade payment of duty and imposing 200% penalty on the ground that the appellant had violated the provisions of Rule 138 of WBGST/CGST Rules, 2017 is permissible/valid.
