Union of India v. HC Radha Fragrance – [2023]
Orders for the provision of Pan Masala and chewing tobacco were given to the petitioner. The items were being transported from the State of Haryana to Jharkhand when they were intercepted by a mobile squad, and it was discovered that instead of 60 cartoons, the van was actually hauling 120 cartoons of tobacco and pan masala, as shown by the tax bills the driver had given.
In accordance with Section 129(3) of the Central GST Act of 2017, the department issued the order and imposed a fine. Once his appeal was denied, the petitioner filed a writ petition challenging the decision. It was argued that because his company had just begun, he was offering a large discount to compete in the Pan Masala category and that the price indicated in the Tax Invoices can’t be discounted given how fiercely competitive the industry is.
According to the Honorable High Court, the objective of issuing an E-Way bill for products priced under Rs. 50,000 does not permit the dealer to inflate the value of those goods in order to avoid having to report them to the government and tax authorities by uploading them to the Web-Portal.
In the present instance, a sizable quantity of Pan Masala and tobacco were carried while being drastically undervalued and without the required E-Way bill being downloaded. Hence, a dealer who purposefully undervalued his goods in order to avoid being caught by the law cannot receive any advantage. The Court concluded that there was no need to interfere with the state authorities’ decision to hold onto goods and impose a tax and penalty.
