- (1.) The petitioner has approached this Court with a prayer for issuance of direction to the respondents to release its goods forthwith on furnishing of surety bond dated January 28, 2012 (P4) duly attested by ETO, Pathankot on February 3, 2012. In response to notice of motion having been issued, the respondents have appeared and have placed on record a copy of an ex parte order dated February 2, 2012 passed by the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner-cum-Designated Officer, Gurdaspur. The aforesaid order has concluded that an attempt to evade/avoid tax was made by the petitioner by not reporting the paddy/rice at the barrier. The goods were meant for trade and not covered by proper/genuine documents. Accordingly, a penalty of Rs. 1,65,375 has been imposed under section 51(7)(b) of the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (for brevity, "the Act") on the value of goods, which was assessed at Rs. 5,51,250. The order has made provision that the vehicle along with goods be released after the realisation of amount of penalty imposed.
(2.) We have heard Learned Counsel for the parties who have taken us through the provisions of section 51(7) of the Act. The Explanation to the aforesaid section reveals that once the order has been passed imposing penalty then the detained goods may be released after realization of the penalty. The Explanation reads as under : Explanation.--The detained goods and the vehicle shall continue to be so detained beyond the period specified in sub-sections (6) and (7), unless released by the detaining officer or enquiry officer against surety or security as provided for in these sub-sections or the penalty imposed, has been realized or the enquiry officer orders release of the detained goods after enquiry, whichever is earlier.
(3.) A perusal of the Explanation would show that the detained goods and vehicle would continue to be detained beyond the period of 72 hours as specified by sub-sections (6) and (7) of section 51 of the Act, unless released by the detaining officer or enquiry officer against surety or security as per the aforesaid provision or the penalty imposed, has been realized after enquiry, whichever is earlier.;