New Order in GST I Validity of NOTICE issued to DRIVER I Detention of Goods I CA Satbir Singh
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Validity of Show Cause Notice and order under GST issued exclusively to the Driver of Vehicle
Facts of the Case
GST Authorities detained the truck along with the goods because bill & E-way bill was mismatched.
Show cause notice that had been issued under section 129 and thereafter under section 130 of the CGST Act is only to the truck driver and neither to the truck owner nor to the petitioner in its capacity of the owner of the goods
order of detention in Form GST MOV-06 was issued .Thereafter, the order was passed on the same day, which was served upon the driver of the truck and not upon the petitioner
Notice for confiscation of the goods/conveyance for levy of penalty was served upon the truck driver,
Decision of High Court
The petitioner, who is the owner of the goods has not been afforded the opportunity at all as no service of show cause notice is also made to the petitioner and the opportunity was only afforded to the driver.
Surprisingly, expressed show cause notice was only to the driver and to none else.
This also is neither to the petitioner nor to any other person, but exclusively to the driver who has been termed as person in charge of the conveyance. The tax invoice contained full address of Supplier of goods/Owner of the goods.
Tax Invoice was containing the details of Owner of Goods.
Therefore, not only there has been no service of any show cause notice prior to the passing of an order under, but also no opportunity of hearing was made available to the petitioner. That itself is a ground for this Court to entertain this petition. The order impugned is in the complete breach of the principles of natural justice for not having issued the show cause notice in the first place and not even having afforded any opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. Quashment of the order will sub-serve the purpose and hence the impugned order passed by the competent authority will need to be quashed and set aside.