M/S Spirare Energy Pvt Ltd vs State Of U.P. And 3 Others
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Allahabad High Court

M/S Spirare Energy Pvt Ltd vs State Of U.P. And 3 Others on 2 February, 2024

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 


?Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:18563
 
Court No. - 1
 

 
Case :- WRIT TAX No. - 391 of 2020
 

 
Petitioner :- M/S Spirare Energy Pvt Ltd
 
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others
 
Counsel for Petitioner :- Rahul Agarwal
 
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
 

 
Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf,J.
 

1. Heard Sri Vedant Agarwal, learned counsel holding brie of Sri Rahul Agarwal and the learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the State.

2. This is a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, wherein the petitioner is aggrieved by the order dated February 22, 2020 passed by the Additional Commissioner, Grade-2 (Appeal)-I, State Goods and Services Tax, Agra dismissing the appeal filed by the petitioner and the order in original dated September 8, 2019.

3. Upon perusal of the record, it appears that apart from an error with regard to the address of the consignee in the E-Way Bill, there were no other issues with the said consignment. The invoice contained the address, the goods matched the description in the invoice and all other materials were intact. The imposition of tax is only on the basis of a technical error with regard to address of the consignee that was wrongly written the E-Way Bill. The authorities have not been able to indicate any mens rea on the part of the petitioner for evasion of tax.

4. In a catena of judgments, this Court has held that presence of mens rea for evasion of tax is a sine qua non for imposition of penalty and mere technical error would not lead to imposition of penalty [see M/s Modern Traders v. State of U.P. and others (Writ Tax No.763 of 2018, decided on 9.5.2018), M/s Galaxy Enterprises v. State of U.P. and others (Writ Tax No.1412 of 2022, decided on 6.11.2023 and Hindustan Herbal Cosmetics v. State of U.P. and others (Writ Tax No.1400 of 2019, decided on 2.1.2024].

5. In light of the above, the orders dated February 22, 2020 and September 8, 2019 are quashed and set aside. The amount deposited by the petitioner be refunded to it within a period of one month from date. Other consequential reliefs to follow.

6. The writ petition is, accordingly, allowed.

Order Date :- 2.2.2024

Kuldeep

(Shekhar B. Saraf,J.)