Varun Beverages Limited Vs State of U.P. (Allahabad High Court)
The Hon’ble Allahabad High Court in M/s. Varun Beverages Limited. v. State of U.P. and Ors. [Writ Tax No. – 958 of 2019 dated February 2, 2023] has set aside the order imposing the penalty upon the assessee, on the grounds that, there was no intention on the part of the assessee to evade taxes. Held that, minor discrepancy in mentioning the registration number of the vehicle in the e-way bill would not attract proceedings for penalty under Section 129 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”).
Facts:
M/s. Varun Beverages Ltd. (“the Petitioner”) is engaged in the business of manufacturing and sale of aerated water, fruit juice based drinks etc. (“the Goods”). The Petitioner was making a stock transfer from its Greater Noida depot to a sale depot at Agra through a truck accompanying delivery challan, e-way bill and bilty on June 10, 2018. The Revenue Department (“the Respondent”) intercepted the Goods and detained the vehicle on June 10, 2018, on the grounds that the vehicle number mentioned in the e-way bill was different.
Subsequently, the Respondent passed the detention order on June 11, 2018 and an Order-in-Original dated June 12, 2018 (“the OIO”) under Section 129(3) of the CGST Act, imposing tax and penalty of INR 3,73,668/-. The Petitioner had preferred an appeal before the Appellate Authority but the same was dismissed vide Order-in-Appeal dated July 1, 2019 (“the OIA”).
Being aggrieved, this petition has been filed.
The Petitioner has contended that it was a case of stock transfer by the Petitioner from its unit at Greater Noida to sale depot at Agra and the Goods were accompanied by necessary documents and the only mistake was the entry of the wrong vehicle number in the e-way bill. Further, there was no intention to evade taxes.
The Respondent contended that a minor mistake in entering details of the vehicle in the e-way bill can be ignored, but where the entire digit as has been entered in the e-way bill is not matching with the vehicle in transit, thus, the explanation afforded by the Petitioner cannot be accepted.
Issue:
Whether the wrong mention of vehicle number through which the Goods were in transit would be considered as a human error?
Held:
The Hon’ble Allahabad High Court in Writ Tax No. – 958 of 2019 held as under:
