Assistant Commissioner Vs Ashok Kuamr Sureka (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Durgapur Range, upholding an earlier single bench order that set aside a demand for tax and penalty against a trader, Ashok Kumar Sureka. The case centered on the detention of a vehicle and its goods due to an expired e-way bill. The High Court, in a newspaper-style summary of the judgment, found that the trader’s actions did not constitute a willful attempt to evade tax, justifying the quashing of the penalty.
Dispute Over Expired E-Way Bill
The core of the dispute was the interception of a vehicle on September 9, 2019, at 1:30 p.m. by tax authorities. The e-way bill for the transported goods had expired at midnight on September 8, 2019. The trader, Ashok Kumar Sureka, explained that the delay was caused by a vehicle breakdown. This explanation, however, was not presented to the appellate authority or in the initial writ petition, but was raised for the first time before the single bench of the High Court.
The Assistant Commissioner had issued a demand for tax and penalty on September 11, 2019. This was later challenged by Sureka before the Joint Commissioner (Appeal), CGST, and CX, Kolkata, who upheld the penalty. Subsequently, Sureka filed a writ petition (W.P.A. No. 11085 of 2021) with the Calcutta High Court.
