Vivek Kumar Gupta Proprietor Vs State of Up And 2 Others (Allahabad High Court)
The writ petition challenges an order dated 07.08.2023 passed by respondent no. 2 under the GST regime. The petitioner, a registered company engaged in the purchase and sale of hardware goods, was subjected to an inspection/search under Section 67 of the GST Act on 29.10.2020. During the inspection conducted by the SIB, the stock was assessed visually, and excess unverified stock was alleged to have been found. Based on this, proceedings under Section 130 read with Section 122 of the GST Act were initiated.
The petitioner contended that initiation of proceedings under Section 130 was unlawful and that, if at all discrepancies in stock were found, the proper course would be proceedings under Sections 73/74 of the GST Act. It was argued that the GST Act specifically provides a mechanism for determination of tax where goods are not properly accounted for under Section 35, and therefore Section 130 could not be invoked. The petitioner relied on judicial precedent, particularly the decision in Vijay Trading Company, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court, and subsequent reliance by the High Court in another related case.
The State authorities supported the impugned action and disputed the petitioner’s claims.
