Case Law Details
Bhushan Power & Steel Limited Vs Asst. Commissioner State Taxes & Excise (GST Appellate Authority Himachal Pradesh)
Rule 138(10) says that validity of e-way bill may be extended within 8 hours from the time of its expiry but in the instant cases the vehicle was practically apprehended in almost 08 to 09 hours of the expiry of the e-way bill, primafacie it appears that, the appellant has been not given reasonable opportunity to update the Part-A of e-way bill. It was noted that Part-B of the e-way bill was duly filled which puts to rest on any doubts about the intention of the appellant to evade tax. Secondly, Circular No. 64/38/2018-GST dated 14th of September, 2018 issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and the circular of Government of Himachal Pradesh dated 13.03.2019 valid from 14.09.2018 clearly states in para no.3 as under;-
that Section 68 of the CGST/HPGST Act read with rule 138-A of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (hererafter referred to as ‘the CGST/HPGST Rules) required that the person incharge of a conveyance carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding Rs. 50,000 should carry a copy of documents viz, invoice/ bill of supply/ delivery challan/ bill of entry and a valid e-way bill in physical or electronic form for verification. In case such person does not carry the mentioned documents, there is no doubt a contravention of the provision of the law takes place and the provisions of Section 129 and Section 130 of the CGST/HPGST Act are invocable. Further, it may be noted that the non-furnishing of information in Part-B of FORM GST EWB-01 amounts to the e-way bill becoming not a valid documents for the movements of goods by road as per explanation (2) to rule 138 (3) of CGST/HPGST Rules, except in the case where the goods are transported for a distance of up to 50 kilometers within the state or Union territory to or from the place of business of the transporter to the place of business of the consigner or the consignee, as the case may be.
Therefore, it has been specifically mentioned that the non-furnishing of information in Part-B 01 of FORM GST EWB-01 amounts to the e-way bill becoming the not a valid document. It appears that e-way bill is invalid only if Part-B of E-way bill is not filled or a considerable time to update the Part —A of e-way bill has gone by.
Similarly, the para no. 5 of the circular says in case a consignment of goods is accompanied with an invoice or any other specify document and also an e-way bill, proceeding u/s 129 of the GST Act may not be initiated. Therefore, in my opinion imposition of tax/ penalty by the respondent is harsh and unsustainable.
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