Order date – 05 August 2022

Key takeaways – 

• The Petitioner, Shanu Events is an event management firm. Present petition has been filed by the petitioner against the order of the appellate authority dated 5.3.2021 which confirmed the order dated 28.12.2020 imposing tax and penalty on the petitioner.
• They received a contract at Kumbh Mela, Haridwar, Uttarakhand. For that purpose, they were transporting LED panels with e-way bill mentioning the place of shipment to "Kumbh Mela, Haridwar, Uttarakhand", but added "Madhya Pradesh – 483501”. Which led the software then generated the validity period of the e-way bill to one day.
• While cross state inspection it came to light that the e-way bill has expired, thus goods were seized, tax and penalty demanded.
• The court observed that this was an inadvertent error in applying for the e-way bill. Further, held that the breach was technical and in absence of any allegation or material found of ill-intent to transport the goods for the purposes of sale, the imposition of tax and demand of penalty is wholly unfounded. 
• Thus, the order dated 28.12.2020 was set aside.