Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd v. The State Of Tripura And 2 ORS


 



  







   

 






    
    

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867.
Establishment
of
check
posts
for
inspection
of
goods
in
transport:
(1)
The
Government
may,
with
a
view
to
prevent
or
check
avoidance
or
evasion
of
tax,
by
notification
in
the
official
gazette,
direct
the
establishment
of
the
check
post
or
barrier
at
such
places
as
may
be
specified
in
the
notification
and
every
officer
who
exercises
powers
and
discharges
his
duties
at
such
check
post
by
way
of
inspection
of
documents
produced
and
goods
being
moved,
shall
be
incharge.

(2)
The
driver
or
person
incharge
of
vehicle
or
carrier
of
goods
in
movement
shall:
(a)
carry
with
him
the
records
of
the
goods
including
challan,
bills
of
sale
or
dispatch
memos
and
prescribed
declaration
form
duly
filled
in
and
signed
by
the
consignee
or
transporter
of
goods
carried
;
(b)
stop
the
vehicle
or
carrier
at
every
check
post
set
up
under
subsection
(1)
or
at
any
other
place
by
an
officer
authorized
by
the
Commissioner
in
this
behalf
;
(c)
produce
all
the
documents
including
the
prescribed
forms
relating
to
the
goods
before
the
officerincharge
of
the
check
post
or
the
authorized
officer
;
(d)
give
all
the
information
in
his
possession
relating
to
the
goods
;
(e)
allow
the
inspection
of
the
goods
for
search
of
the
vehicle
by
the
officerincharge
of
the
check
post
or
any
authorized
officer.

(3)
Where
any
goods
are
in
movement
within
the
territory
of
the
state
of
Tripura,
an
officer
empowered
by
the
state
government
in
this
behalf
may
stop
the
vehicle
or
the
carrier
or
the
person
carrying
such
goods,
for
inspection,
at
any
place
within
his
jurisdiction
and
provisions
of
subsection
(2)
shall
mutatis
mutandis
apply.



(4)
Where
any
goods
in
movement
are
without
documents,
or
are
not
supported
by
documents
as
referred
to
in
subsection
(2),
or
documents
produced
appeared
to
be
false
or
forged,
the
officerin charge
of
the
check
post
or
the
officer
empowered
under
sub section
(3),
may

(a)
direct
the
driver
or
the
person
incharge
of
the
vehicle
or
carrier
or
of
the
goods
not
to
part
with
the
goods
in
any
manner
including
by
transporting
or
rebooking,
till
a
verification
is
done
or
an
enquiry
is
made,
which
shall
not
take
more
than
seven
days
;
(b)
seize
the
goods
for
reasons
to
be
recorded
in
writing
and
shall
give
receipt
of
the
goods
to
the
person
from
whose
possession
or
control
they
are
seized
;
(5)
The
Officerincharge
of
the
check
post
or
the
officer
empowered
under
subsection
(3),
after
having
given
the
person
incharge
of
the
goods
a
reasonable
opportunity
of
being
heard
and
after
having
held
such
enquiry
as
he
may
deem
fit,
shall
impose
for
possession
or
movement
of
goods,
whether
seized
or
not,
in
violation
of
the
provisions
of
clause
(a)
of
subsection
(2)
or
for
submission
of
false
or
forged
documents
in
addition
to
tax
leviable,
a
penalty
equal
to
double
the
amount
of
tax,
or
rupees
one
thousand,
whichever
is
higher.

(6)
During
the
pendency
of
the
proceeding
under
subsection
(5),
if
anyone
prays
for
being
impleaded
as
a
party
to
the
case
on
the
ground
of
involvement
of
his
interest
therein,
the
said
officerin charge
or
the
empowered
officer
on
being
satisfied,
may
permit
him
to
be
included
as
a
party
to
the
case;
and
thereafter,
all
provisions
of
this
section
shall
mutatis
mutandis
apply
to
him.
(7)
The
officerincharge
of
the
check
post
or
the
officer
empowered
under
subsection
(3)
may
release
the
goods
to
the
owner
of
the
goods
or
to
any
person
duly
authorized
by
such
owner
on
payment
of
the
tax
and
penalty
imposed
under
subsection
(5).

(8)
Where
the
driver
or
person
in
charge
of
the
vehicle
or
the
carrier
is
found
guilty
for
violation
of
the
provisions
of
subsection
(2),
subject
to
the
provisions
of
clause
(a)
of
subsection
(4),
the
officer incharge
of
the
check
post
or
the
officer
empowered
under
sub section
(3)
may
detain
such
vehicle
or
carrier
and
affording
an
opportunity
of
being
heard
to
such
driver
or
person
in
charge
of
the
vehicle
or
the
carrier,
may,
impose
a
penalty
not
exceeding
ten
thousand
rupees.

(9)
Where
a
transporter,
while
transporting
goods,
is
found
to
be
in
collusion
with
dealer
to
avoid
or
evade
tax,
the
officerincharge
of
the
check
post
or
the
officer
empowered
under
subsection
(3),
shall
detain
the
vehicle
or
carrier
of
such
transporter
and
after
affording
him
an
opportunity
of
being
heard
with
prior
approval
in
writing
of
the
Commissioner
may
confiscate
such
vehicle
or
carrier."
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 !!" 7 " @   "   ?-;(<;'<;?<  ;-<     "78, "5555.A
bare
perusal
of
the
aforesaid
provisions
shows
that
under
subsection
(4)
of
Section
67
where
the
goods
are
being
transported
without
documents
or
are
not
supported
by
documents
specifically
mentioned
in
subsection
(2)
then
the
officerincharge
of
the
check
post
or
the
officer
empowered
can
seize
the
goods.
Such
officer
can
also
seize
the
goods
even
when
the
documents
produced
appear
to
be
false
or
forged.
It
is
obvious
that
the
officer
in
such
a
case
must
give
reasons
as
to
why
he
considers
the
documents
to
be
false
or
forged.

Under
clause
(a)
of
subsection
(4)
the
officer
can
direct
the
driver
or
the
person
incharge
of
the
vehicle
not
to
part
with
the
goods
by
transporting
or
rebooking
till
verification
is
done
and
this
must
be
done
within
7
days.
Clause(b)
of
subsection
(4)
gives
power
to
the
officer
to
seize
the
goods
for
reasons
to
be
recorded
in
writing
and
on
such
seizure
the
officer
has
to
give
receipt
of
the
goods
to
the
person
from
whose
possession
or
control
they
are
seized.
9.



documents
produced
appear
to
be
false
or
forged.
Subsection
5
of
Section
67
empowers
the
officerincharge
of
the
Check
Post
or
the
officer
specifically
empowered
in
this
behalf
to
impose
tax
and
penalty.
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12.


First
we
shall
deal
with
the
issue
as
to
whether
the
order
of
seizure
in
this
case
was
proper
or
not.
As
discussed
earlier
the
power
to
seize
is
granted
only
when
the
goods
are
without
documents
or
are
not
supported
by
documents
mentioned
in
sub section
(2)
or
the
officerincharge
of
the
check
post
is
of
the
view
that
the
documents
are
false
or
forged.
In
the
present
case
the
documents
were
there.
Admittedly,
the
documents
were
not
forged
but
according
to
the
State,
the
value
of
the
goods
given
in
the
documents
was
incorrect.

The
reason
given
by
the
officerincharge
of
the
Check
Post
is
that
since
the
maximum
retail
price
was
shown
to
be
Rs.72/
per
liter
the
value
of
the
goods
worked
out
to
Rs.11,52,000/
as
against
Rs.4,80,000/.
The
Officer
did
not
at
all
consider
the
fact
that
the
petitioner
was
the
manufacturer
of
the
goods
and
this
was
in
a
sense
a
case
of
stock
transfer.
The
goods
would
have
been
sold
to
the
stockist,
then
to
the
wholesaler
and
then
to
the
retailer.
Each
of
these
would
be
entitled
to
some
profit.
We
do
not
understand
how
the
officerincharge
of
the
check
post
could
say
with
certainty
that
the
goods
were
undervalued.

13.


The
Act
empowers
the
officer
to
take
two
actions.

The
first
action
is,
to
direct
the
driver
or
person
incharge
of
the
vehicle
not
to
part
with
the
goods,
in
any
manner,
till
verification
is
done
or
an
inquiry
is
made.
Therefore,
if
the
officerincharge
of
the
check
post
has
some
doubt
with
regard
to
the
value
of
the
goods,
he
should
preferably
follow
the
first
rule.
Seizure
of
the
goods
is
a
penal
action
and
normally
seizure
should
only
be
done
where
the
goods
are
not
accompanied
by
any
document
or
the
documents
on
the
face
of
it
are
forged.
Where
the
only
difference
is
with
regard
to
the
value
of
the
goods,
the
officer
should
not
normally
seize
the
goods
but
should
direct
the
driver
or
the
person
incharge
not
to
sell
them
till
verification
of
the
price
is
made.

In
many
cases
like
the
present
case,
where
the
registered
dealers
are
transporting
the
goods,
it
may
not
be
necessary
to
seize
the
goods.
The
value
of
the
goods
can
be
noted
down
and
the
goods
can
be
handed
over
to
the
driver
or
the
personincharge
of
the
vehicle
under
a
surety
bond
that
after
they
are
taken
to
the
destination
they
shall
be
produced
before
the
concerned
taxation
officer.
The
seizure
of
goods
should
be
the
last
resort
and
not
the
first
action
to
be
taken
by
the
officerincharge
of
the
check
post.
In
the
present
case
action
of
seizure
was
based
on
no
evidence
and
is
totally
illegal."

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