2018 (11) TMI 1571 – KERALA HIGH COURT – [2019] 61 G S.T.R. 185 (Ker) – Detention of goods – the vehicle driver showed the invoices and e-way bills meant for intra-state transport, that is from Ernakulam to Thalassery and Kozhikode. He could not show the e-way bill from Bangalore to Ernakulam – Held that:- If online generation of e-way bill suffices, the Rule would not have insisted on the consignment carrying a copy of the bill or the number in electronic form. At any rate, the issue now concerns only the provisional release and the statute provides an efficacious mechanism for that. Of course, the statutory compliance for the provisional release does visit on the petitioner with certain financial burden, as it has to produce the Bank Guarantee.
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The Court should adopt a pragmatic view rather than a pedantic one. True. But in the name of interim orders and in the name of our exercising judicial discretion at the threshold, we cannot afford to chip away at the statutory scheme-e
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itioner proposed to send them to Ernakulam and from there, it wanted to distribute to the customers at Thalassery and Kozhikode, through local conveyance. The petitioner thus claims to have generated the invoice and e-way bill at 5.57 PM on 21.11.2018 and dispatched the goods through a truck. 2. As the petitioner pleads, because of the customers demand and also as a matter of commercial experiency, rather than route the consignment through Ernakulam, it sent the goods directly to the customers. En route, the Assistant State Tax Officer intercepted the goods and detained them. On his demand, the vehicle driver showed the invoices and e-way bills meant for intra-state transport, that is from Ernakulam to Thalassery and Kozhikode. He could not show the e-way bill from Bangalore to Ernakulam. 3. In response to the statutory notice issued, the petitioner submitted the Ext.P15 reply, besides pleading personally before the authorities for the release of the goods. But as the Assistant State T
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y bill first generated for transporting the consignment from Bangalore to Ernakulam. Sri Sreekumaran also asserts that, viewed from any perspective, there is no tax evasion. Not even the authorities could entertain any such suspicion because the entire transaction is above board. He has fervently pleaded that it is a fit case where the Court should take a pragmatic view, instead of a pedantic one. 6. In response, Dr.Thushara James, the Government Pleader, has drawn my attention to Rule 138A of the GST Rules. According to her, though the e-way bill, once generated, could be verified on-line, the legislature and the executive in their wisdom have mandated under this Rule that the consignment should carry a copy of the eway bill in physical form, or at least its number in the electronic form. Therefore, the Assistant State Tax Officer has detained the goods only in compliance with Rule 138A, she adds. 7. Dr. James has also submitted that after getting the goods provisionally released unde
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d on to the conveyance in such manner as may be notified by the Commissioner: Provided that nothing contained in clause (b) of this sub-rule shall apply in case of movement of goods by rail or by air or vessel: [Provided further that in case of imported goods, the person in charge of a conveyance shall also carry a copy of the bill of entry filed by the importer of such goods and shall indicate the number and date of the bill of entry in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01. (2) A registered person may obtain an Invoice Reference Number from the common portal by uploading, on the said portal, a tax invoice issued by him in FORM GST IN V-1 and produce the same for verification by the proper officer in lieu of the tax invoice and such number shall be valid for a period of thirty days from the date of uploading (3) Where the registered person uploads the invoice under sub-rule (2), the information in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 shall be auto-populated by the common portal on the basis of the informati
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and the statute provides an efficacious mechanism for that. Of course, the statutory compliance for the provisional release does visit on the petitioner with certain financial burden, as it has to produce the Bank Guarantee. But the pleas now the petitioner's counsel has urged before me are the ones that deserve consideration on merits, when the State Tax Officer decides on the legality of detention. 11. I may add a word in response to the petitioner s plea that the Court should adopt a pragmatic view rather than a pedantic one. True. But in the name of interim orders and in the name of our exercising judicial discretion at the threshold, we cannot afford to chip away at the statutory scheme-especially if the scheme has an economic efficacy. I do agree that under exceptional circumstances, we can soften the rigour of the law, but can ill afford to ignore the law. The issues the petitioner raised here are the ones to be considered on merits finally-but not at the threshold and defi
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