Amit Tyagi Vs Tata Play Limited (GSTAT Agra)
Summary: The GST Appellate Tribunal, Uttar Pradesh considered the Revenue’s second appeal against the order dated 09.07.2025 of the Additional Commissioner Grade-II (Appeal), State Tax, Etawah, which had set aside a penalty of Rs.10,10,186/- imposed under Section 129(3) of the CGST/UPGST Act. Tata Play Limited was transporting electrical equipment from New Delhi to its Lucknow godown when the vehicle was intercepted on 25.03.2025. Two consignments and their accompanying documents were produced. In respect of one e-way bill, however, the vehicle number mentioned was DL-01LAL-7401 whereas the goods were actually being carried in vehicle DL-01MB-3570. The adjudicating officer treated this as a violation of Section 129 read with Section 68 and Rule 138 and imposed the penalty, which the First Appellate Authority subsequently set aside.
The Judicial Member held that the protection of CBIC Circular No. 64/38/2018-GST, which covers minor errors of one or two digits/characters in a vehicle number, could not extend to an entirely different vehicle registration number. Referring, inter alia, to Union of India Vs Dharmendra Textile Processors, B.M. Computers and Jhansi Enterprises, the Judicial Member concluded that the surrounding circumstances created a rebuttable presumption of intention to evade tax which the taxpayer had failed to rebut. The Judicial Member therefore allowed the Revenue’s appeal, set aside the First Appellate Authority’s order and restored the adjudicating officer’s penalty order, with a direction that recovery under Section 79 be initiated on failure to pay.
