The Allahabad High Court, in M/S VRS Foods Ltd vs Additional Commissioner Grade-2 & Ors, dismissed writ petitions challenging GST penalties imposed on the movement of goods without documents during weighment.
The case involved transportation of battery scrap for weighment within 20 km of the place of business. The petitioner argued that as per Rule 138(14)(n) of the GST Rules, no e-way bill or document was required for such movement.
However, the Court observed that although an e-way bill may not be mandatory, a delivery challan is still a prescribed document and must accompany the goods during transit. In this case, no document was available at the time of interception, and documents were produced only after seizure.
The Court held that allowing post-interception production of documents would defeat the purpose of Section 129 read with Rule 138, and would open the door to misuse by claiming weighment as a defence.
Accordingly, the High Court upheld the detention and penalty proceedings and dismissed the writ petitions.