M/S SHREEJI STEEL Vs. STATE TAX OFFICER (1), KUTCH MOBILE SQUAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of the present writ petition, the petitioner has assailed the Show-Cause Notice dtd. 15/1/2026 in Form GST MOV-10 and the Order-in-Original dtd. 2/3/2026 in Form GST MOV-11.

(2.) The petitioner is engaged in the business of trading of waste and scrap of cast iron. It is the case of the petitioner that it purchased goods from M/s. A.S. Construction, Gandhidham, vide its tax invoice dtd. 12/2/2025, and the same were further supplied directly to M/s. A.K. Tools Industries and delivered through a conveyance bearing vehicle No.PB 13 BR 9947. On 13/2/2025, the said conveyance was inspected by the State Tax Officer (1), Kachchh Mobile Squad, at Radhanpar Highway near Samakhiyali. After verification of the vehicle, a verification report in Form GST MOV-4 and a detention order in Form GST MOV-6 came to be issued on 13/2/2025. Thereafter, on 21/2/2025, the respondent issued a show-cause notice under Sec. 130 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (for short, 'the CGST Act ') in Form GST MOV-10, proposing confiscation of the goods. The penalty and fines in lieu of confiscation were computed as follows : penalty (equal to tax), i.e. Rs.2,47,466.00; fine in lieu of confiscation of goods (i.e. equal to the value of the goods), Rs.13,74,812.00; and fine in lieu of confiscation of the conveyance (equal to tax), amounting to Rs.2,47,468.00.

(3.) Learned advocate Mr.Jatin Harjai, appearing for learned advocate Mr.Sujay Adeshara, at the outset, while referring to the provisions of Rule 138B of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (the CGST Rules), submitted that the impugned notice as well as the order are required to be quashed and set aside, as the provisions of Rule 138B of the CGST Rules have been violated. It was submitted that the impugned notice as well as the order had been issued by the same proper officer, who could not be the judge in his own case.