Abhinava Upadhya, J. - (1.) THE present revision has been filed against the order of the Tribunal dated September 26, 2009 passed in Second Appeal No. 155 of 2009, arising out of the proceeding initiated under Section 48(7) of the U.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2008 relating to the assessment year 2009 -10.
(2.) HEARD learned Counsel for the applicant, Shri Alok Kumar, and learned standing Counsel for the State, and upon agreement by both the Counsel, the revision is being disposed of finally at this stage. The applicant is a partnership -firm and engaged in the business of transport of goods with its registered office at Kutub Road, Delhi. The applicant was assigned certain consignments from Delhi to Akola, Maharashtra. The said consignments were being transported in a truck with registration No. RJ -11 -GA/0813 bound for Akola, Maharashtra. It has been submitted that none of the goods or any part of the consignments were meant for the State of U.P. The said consignments were covered by the relevant builties and proper bills. The said truck was intercepted while the same was passing through the State of U.P. at Agra near Fatehpur Sikri by the Assistant Commissioner, Mobile Squad. The goods were detained on the ground that there was some variation in the description and their quantity in respect of two builties. No dispute was raised regarding other loaded goods on the truck. It has also been submitted that at this stage, it may be relevant to note that it was not the case of the authorities that the said goods were found to be unloaded within the State of U.P. or the vehicle was not on the designated route or vehicle was still within the territory of U.P. even after expiry of four days.
(3.) THE learned Counsel for the applicant, Shri Alok Kumar, has further submitted that the State Government has abolished the check -post established by it for checking and verification of goods in transit. A new system has been introduced by a circular of the Commissioner dated July 27, 2009 and July 30, 2009 (annexure No. 1 and 2) to enable free movement of goods in transit which were brought from outside of State of U.P. and were meant to be transported outside the State of Uttar Pradesh. Although, it is submitted that for the purpose of transit through the State specific provision has already been provided under the Value Added Tax Act and Rules. The relevant Sections and Rules are quoted below: Section 52. Issue of authorization for transit of goods through the State. - When a vehicle coming from any place outside the State and bound for any other place outside the State, and carrying goods referred to in Sub -section (1) of Section 51, passes through the State, the driver or other person -in -charge of such vehicle shall obtain in the prescribed manner an authorization for transit of goods from the officer -in -charge of the first check -post or barrier after his entry into the State and deliver it to the officer -in -charge of the last check -post or barrier before his exit from the State, failing which it shall be presumed that the goods carried thereby have been sold within the State by the owner or person -in -charge of the vehicle: Provided that the goods carried by such vehicle are, after their entry into the State, transported outside the State by any other vehicle or conveyance, the onus of proving that the goods have actually moved out of the State shall be on the owner or person -in -charge of the vehicle. Explanation. - For the purpose of this section, the hirer of the vehicle shall also be deemed to be the owner of the vehicle. Rule 58. The transit of goods by road through the State. - (1) The driver or person -in -charge of a vehicle carrying goods commencing journey from a place outside the State and destined for a place outside the State or the driver or person -in -charge of a vehicle which carries goods in the circumstances referred to Section 52, shall present application in form XLIII in triplicate for issue of authorization for transit of goods to the officer -in -charge of check -post or barrier, if any, established near the point of entry into the State hereinafter called the entry check -post: Provided that where any goods are carried from outside the State by rail, river, air, post or courier at any place inside the State for transporting outside the State by road by a vehicle, the driver or person -in -charge of the vehicle which will carry goods outside the State shall present application in form XLIV in triplicate for issue of authorization for transit of goods to the assessing authority having jurisdiction over the place where the goods have been received by rail, river, air, post or courier. (2) The officer in -charge of the entry check -post or the assessing authority referred to in proviso to Sub -rule (1), as the case may be, shall, after examining the documents and after making such enquiries as he deems necessary, specify on all the copies of the application for issue of transit authorization the check -post or barrier (hereinafter referred to as the exit check -post) of the State to be crossed by the vehicle and the time and date up to which it should be so crossed and deliver two copies of the authorization for transit to the driver or person in -charge of the vehicle retaining one copy himself. (3) The driver or person in -charge of the vehicle shall stop his vehicle at such exit check -post, surrender one copy of the authorization for transit of goods and allow the officer in -charge of the check -post to inspect the documents, consignments and goods in order to ensure that the consignment being taken out of the State is the same as mentioned in the trip sheet. The officer in -charge of the exit check -post shall issue a receipt on the other copy of the authorization for transit of goods. (4) The officer in -charge of the exit check -post shall have power to detain, unload and search contents of the vehicle for the purpose of detecting evasion of tax. (5) The Commissioner may from time to time issue instruction with regard to the procedure to be followed regarding issue and surrender of authorization for transit of goods.;