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2016 (2) TMI 544 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxSeized goods disappeared / were stolen - Seizure of 24 cartons containing gold and silver jewellery as well as cash - - It is stated that “the thela pullers and pushers, who were in-charge of the goods, ran away and in such circumstances the burden of safety and security of the detained goods became the responsibility of the Department, which was the first such experience of the branch with such eventuality”. - Held that:- The provisions of the DVAT Act are being flouted with impunity since it seems extremely unlikely that such valuable consignment would be first despatched through a railway van and then transported on thelas openly without any protection through a busy locality of Delhi in broad daylight. Clearly the Respondent’s enforcement team has not, prior to the incident on 1st March 2014, been performing its duty, or otherwise things would not have come to such a pass. The Respondent on its own admission appears to have no infrastructure to deal with such contingency where the goods valued at around ₹ 4 crores are required to be detained and kept in the custody of the DT&T. This is an unfortunate instance of the DT&T being unable to ensure the safety of the detained goods, resulting in some portion of it being stolen and a criminal case having to be registered in that behalf. The Crime Branch will pursue the investigation of aforementioned FIR to its logical end as expeditiously as feasible. As far as the main prayer in the petition is concerned the Court is not inclined to order release of the goods at the present stage and in the circumstances narrated above to any of the Petitioners. As already noticed, Petitioners 1 and 2 are thela pullers and the question of releasing the goods that have been detained to either of them does not arise. In the absence of proper documentation in respect of the goods being produced to the satisfaction of the CTT, the order dated 20th May 2014 passed by the Assistant Commissioner cannot be faulted and does not call for interference. - Decided against the appellants.
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