Section 129 of the CGST Act — Goods in Transit – The petitioner engaged in procurement, fabrication, construction and project management and integrated design to build solutions to Onshore and offshore Hydrocarbon Projects. The petitioner sent 229.94 MTs of goods from its SEZ Unit in Tamil Nadu to their bonded warehouse at Gujarat. The goods were supported by Delivery Challan and E-way bill dated 23.03.2020. One of the conveyance was intercepted and inspected by respondent and on verification they detained goods and conveyance under Section 129(1) of the Act, on the ground that as per the physical verification of the vehicle, the quantity was 41 MT and declaration was made for 31 MT. The petitioner submitted a letter against detention on 22.05.2020 and explained that the discrepancy has arisen due to clerical error of interchanging the weighment and quantity. The respondent issued notice on 23.05.2020 proposing to demand integrated tax of Rs.2,88,669/- and imposed penalty equal to 100% of the tax amount under Section 129(1)(a) and penalty of Rs.13,51,051/- under Section 129(1)(b). The respondent submitted that the appeal under Section 107 of Act are to be filed before the appellate authority, as such the petitioner cannot invoke writ remedy.
Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court dismissed the petition on the ground that equally efficacious remedy is prescribed by law for the petitioner. As such the matter ought to have been agitated before the appellate authority.— L And T Hydrocarbon Engineering Limited Vs. The Union of India, The Ministry of Finance, The Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes [2020] 25 TAXLOK.COM 082 (Karnataka)