In advertently clerical mistake in E-Way bill without intention of evasion of Tax?

intention of evasion of Tax

Case Title

Amara Raja Batteries Ltd

Vs

State of MP

Commissioner of State GST

Joint Commissioner State Tax,Appeal

Court

Madhya Pradesh High Court

Honorable Judges

Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Dwarka Dhish Bansal

Citation

2022 (7) GSTPanacea 208 HC Madhya Pradesh

W.P.A. 6736 of 2022

Judgement Date

22-July -2022

Council for Petitioner

Sahil Sharma

Council for UOI

 

Council for State

Piyush Dharmadhikari

 

The Madhya Pradesh High Court bench of Sheel Nagu and Dwarka Dhish Bansal has held that The element of intention to evade tax must be present to sustain the order of penalty u/s 129.

intention of evasion of Tax

Facts of the Case

 The petitioner here generated the E-way bill and due to clerical mistake the place of business was entered at Indore instead of Jabalpur. The petitioner also submitted that since the default address has been set as Indore online the manual change was not possible and therefore the destination is continuously shown as Indore instead of Jabalpur. The petitioner relied upon the decision on Robbins Tunneling and Trenchless Tech India P Ltd Vs State of MP and Ors.

As well as the respondent by taking reference of instruction dated 14th Sep 2018 of Department of Revenue in clause 5 submits that exemption from the rigour of Section 129 of GST Act, can be availed on arising of contingencies as clause 5>

In Section 129 the e way bill proceedings can not be initiated if:

  • Spelling mistake in name of consignor and consignee but GST no should be correct.
  • Error in pin code but addresses should be corrects subject to condition that error in pin code does not impact the validity of e way bill
  • Error in address of consignee to the extent of its locality
  • Error in one or two digits in document number.
  • Error in 4 or 6 digit of HSN provided first two digits are correct
  • Error in one or two digits in vehicle number

Hence the benefit of clause 5 shall not be available to petitioner as per respondent.

intention of evasion of Tax

Court Held

After reviewing the immunity provision of clause 5 of circular dated 14th Sep 2018, it is quite clear that benefit in this clause may not be available to petitioner but to add that in penal provision of  Section 129 of the GST Act, the element of intention to evade tax must be present to sustain an order of penalty. So the court directs that an inquiry which is not conducted by authority shall be conducted to check the evasion involved or whether the mistake in e way bill is inadvertent or not.

So the order by appellate authority is quashed and directed to re consider the appeal.

intention of evasion of Tax

Analysis of the Judgement

The tax payer shall take care of every bit of provision by filing an appeal on any ground of provision of GST Act, to the court. Further the tax payer should adhere the law before doing any relative transaction in course of business.

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Amara Raja Batteries Ltd

For Reference Visit:

Madhya Pradesh High Court