- (1.) The petitioner had filed the present petition in this Court praying for the issuance of writ in the nature of mandamus, directing respondent No. 2, to release the goods of the petitioner in terms of Section 51(6)(b) of the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (for short, "the Act"). It is pleaded that the petitioner is a sole proprietorship concern carrying on business of sale and purchase of iron goods at Mandi Gobindgarh. The petitioner is duly registered under the Act.
(2.) During the course of business, the petitioner ordered for import of certain goods from one M/s. Raj Enterprises, Ghaziabad. The ordered goods were sent by the seller M/s. Raj Enterprises issuing invoice No. 618 dated July 27, 2006 for a sum of Rs. 6,58,772. Tax under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 was duly charged in the bill. The goods were transported through Guru Nanak Road Carrier from Ghaziabad to Mandi Gobindgarh. While entering the State of Punjab, the driver of the vehicle produced the invoice and goods receipt at Information Collection Centre, Khanauri (for short, "ICC"). In spite of the bill and the G.R. being in order, the goods were illegally detained at ICC. The plea of the petitioner further is that in terms of the provisions of the Act, the petitioner offered surety bonds/bank guarantee for release of the goods, but the request of the petitioner was declined by the detaining officer for the reasons best known to him. Under the circumstances, the petitioner had no alternative but to approach this Court.
(3.) In the written statement filed, the respondents have taken preliminary objection regarding mis-statement and concealment of facts by the petitioner in the writ petition with a view to mislead this Court. The relevant facts as stated in the written statement are extracted below: Vehicle No. H-58A-9741 loaded with M. S. ingots arrived at the I. C. C. on July 29, 2006. The driver of the vehicle handed over photostat copy of bill No. TE/015/A/06-07 dated July 19, 2006 issued by M/s. Trishul Enterprises, Rurkela (Orissa) in favour of M/s. Jindal Traders, Head Office Ludhiana branch office Amloh Road, Mandi Gobindgarh (TIN No. 03811027759). The value of the goods was shown as Rs. 3,42,160 and weight 23.500 mt. True copy of the same is annexed herewith as annexure R-l. He also produced photocopy of one GR of Dashmesh Road Carrier, Rurkela to Mandi Gobindgarh in which the consignee and consignor were as mentioned in the bill. When he was asked to produce the originals of these documents, he left the window of the data entry operator but did not come back. The data entry operator handed over the photostat copies to the officer-in-charge, i.e., E. T. I. on duty with his report that "The computer has reported that import of scrap and export of iron bar whereas the dealer is a trader of yarn, paper, board, karyana and hosiery goods". The officer-in-charge, E. T. I., waited for the driver for sometime but when he did not return he suspected the genuineness of transaction especially when the computer has reported that the consignee as mentioned in the document is not a dealer of goods in question, i.e., M. S. ingots. Accordingly, he issued a notice No. 000172 dated July 29, 2006 in the name of Jindal Traders, Ludhiana which was sent by serving upon one Mr. Sukhwinder Singh who was looking after the vehicle in the absence of the driver who had fled away with the original documents. Sh. Sukhwinder Singh admitted that he is driver of another vehicle owned by the same owner. None appeared on July 30, 2006 for which date the notice was issued by the detaining officer who had also passed detention order on July 29, 2006. However, it was on July 31, 2006 Sh. Karamjit Singh driver of the vehicle came at the I. C. C. with one bill No. 018 dated July 27, 2006 for a sum of Rs. 6,58,772 issued by one M/s. Raj Enterprises, Ghaziabad in favour of one M/s. Shiv Shankar Steel Industries, Mandi Gobindgarh, true copy of the bill is annexed herewith as annexure R2 and G.R. No. 2755 dated July 27, 2006 of M/s. Guru Nanak Road Carrier, Ghaziabad. Sh. Sunil Kumar proprietor of Shiv Shankar Steel Industries, Mandi Gobindgarh also appeared along with the driver before the detaining officer. They were confronted with the facts specially with regard to the photostat copies of document produced before the data entry operator on July 29, 2006. In view of these facts the detaining officer asked them to establish their ownership of goods. They were asked to produce their regular account books in order to find out the genuineness of their claim as owner of the goods. Another question put for reply was as to why the bill issued by Ghaziabad dealer had been produced on the third day, but no plausible reply was given. The detaining officer suspected that M/s. Shiv Shankar Steel Industries, Mandi Gobindgarh who has now produced the bill issued by dealer of Ghaziabad has made an effort to import the goods in question in the name of M/s. Jindal Traders, Ludhiana either with his connivance or otherwise. The driver Sh. Karamjit Singh who has appeared along with Sunil Kumar made a statement before the detaining officer that the goods have been brought from Rurkela and the original documents were taken by him which were handed over to Mr. Sunil Kumar at Mandi Gobindgarh and the documents now produced have been handed over to him by Sh. Sunil Kumar, proprietor of petitioner-firm. Thereafter, the detaining officer submitted the case to the answering respondent for taking action under Section 51(7)(c) of the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as "Act, 2005"). A notice was issued to M/s. Jindal Traders, Ludhiana to whom notice was earlier issued by the detaining officer being a consignee as per documents furnished on July 29, 2006 for appearing on August 2, 2006 but none appeared up to August 4, 2006 either for the release of the goods or for the verification of the transaction.;