GST Act does not mandate adherence to route map by transporters to reach delivery points: Karnataka High Court
By: Admin
June 28, 2024
Categories: GST Recent News
4 Min Read
The Goods and Services Tax Act does not mandate that transporters of goods have to compulsorily adhere to the route map furnished to them to reach destinations for delivery of goods, said the High Court of Karnataka, while setting aside exemplary penalty imposed by the State Commercial Tax authorities on a transporter for violation of route map by the truck driver.
No binding rule
“What is required by law is furnishing of consignment documents and specified particulars of consignor, consignee, goods, route maps, and destinations. Requirement of furnishing particulars of route map etc. is one thing, compulsive adherence to the route is another. There is law with regard to the former, it is true; but latter is non liquet i.e., an area where there is no binding rule,” the Court observed.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Krishna S. Dixit and Justice Ramachandra D. Huddar made these observations while upholding the judgment passed by a single judge, who had set aside the December 2021 order of the Department of Commercial Taxes in imposing ₹21.42 lakh as penalty on M/s Transways India Transport, Bengaluru. The Bench dismissed an appeal filed by the department against the single judge’s verdict.
The truck was carrying steel coils and plates from Mumbai to be delivered at separate destinations in Kalasipalya, S.P. Road, and Peenya Industrial Area in Bengaluru. However, on reaching Hebbal junction, instead of taking right turn, the driver wrongly took left turn and moved towards Bommasandra Industrial area. The truck was intercepted by the department’s checking squad near Bommasandra.
What department said
Later, though the department found all the documents in order, it treated the change of route by the driver as “transportation of goods without documents beyond the place of destination and also diversion of the goods to a place other than the destination point” as per the provisions of the GST Act, and imposed the penalty.
The department stated that it was neither convinced with the explanation given by the driver nor the affidavit filed by the purchasers to whom the consignment had to be delivered.
But the Bench said that when the law does not require giving reasons for changing the direction or route, whether the reason offered by the driver for opting another route is true or false, pales into insignificance. However, this does not mean a driver of conveyance can lie with impunity, the Bench clarified.
Source from: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/gst-act-does-not-mandate-adherence-to-route-map-by-transporters-to-reach-delivery-points-karnataka-high-
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