Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR & THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE MOHAMMED NIAS C.P.
MONDAY, THE 30TH DAY OF JANUARY 2023 / 10TH MAGHA, 1944 WA NO. 1902 OF 2022 AGAINST THE JUDGMENT DATED 29.11.2022 IN WP(C) 4948/2022 OF HIGH COURT OF KERALA APPELLANT/WRIT PETITIONER:
ABDUL SAMAD P AGED 56 YEARS SON OF PAREETH RAWTHER BROTHERS, XII/190, ATHIKKATTUKULANGARA NOORANADU, ALAPUZHA PIN – 690504 BY ADVS.
SRI.K.P.PRADEEP SRI.SANAND RAMAKRISHNAN SRI.HAREESH M.R.
SRI.T.T.BIJU SRI.T.THASMI SMT.M.J.ANOOPA SRI.SANU S MALAKEEL RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS:
1 STATE OF KERALA REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY (TAXES), GOVERNMENT SECRETARIATE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN – 695001 2 COMMISSIONER OF KERALA STATE GST KERALA STATE GST DEPARTMENT TAX TOWERS, KILLIPALAM, KARAMANA.P.O.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM PIN – 695002 3 JOINT COMMISSIONER OF STATE TAX (INTELLIGENCE), KERALA STATE GOODS AND SERVICE TAX DEPARTMENT, TAX TOWER, KILLIPALAM, KARAMANA P.O., THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN – 695002
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W.A.No.1902 of 2022 4 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (INTELLIGENCE) KERALA STATE GOODS AND SERVICE TAX DEPARTMENT, 4TH FLOOR, MINI CIVIL STATION, ALAPUZHA, PIN – 688013 5 STATE TAX OFFICER- SQUAD NO 2 ALAPUZHA AT CHENGANNUR KERALA STATE GOODS AND SERVICE TAX MINI CIVIL STATION, CHENGANNUR PIN - 689121 BY GOVERNMENT PLEADER SMT. M M JASMINE THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 30.01.2023, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
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W.A.No.1902 of 2022 JUDGMENT A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.
The petitioner in W.P(C).No.4948 of 2022 is the appellant before us aggrieved by the judgment dated 29.11.2022 of the learned Single Judge in the Writ Petition. The learned Single Judge while disposing the Writ Petition challenging a prohibitory order issued by the respondents under the provisions of the Kerala State Goods and Service Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the GST Act'), relegated the appellant to his alternate remedy of impugning Exts.P13 and P14 original assessment order and rectified assessment order before the Appellate Authority before whom the appellant had already preferred statutory appeals.
The learned Single Judge, however, did not deal with the aspect of continued detention of the goods pending disposal of the statutory appeals by the Appellate Authority. It is aggrieved by this portion of the judgment of the learned Single Judge that the appellant is before us seeking a direction to the respondents to release the detained goods in the light of the statutory appeals having been preferred, and a stay of pre-deposit having been ordered by the Appellate Authority.
2. We have heard Sri.K.P.Pradeep, the learned counsel for the appellant and Smt.M.M.Jasmine, the learned Government Pleader for the respondents.
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W.A.No.1902 of 2022 3. The learned Government Pleader would submit, on instructions, that as of today, no proceedings have been initiated against the appellant for confiscation of the detained goods in terms of Section 130 of the GST Act. Under such circumstances, we find that no useful purpose will be served by continuing the detention of the goods in the premises of the appellant, since the interests of the revenue is as regards the tax due in respect of the goods, and the statutory appeals preferred by the appellant against the the assessment orders are already pending before the Appellate Authority. We, therefore, allow this Writ Appeal by directing the 5th respondent to forthwith release the goods belonging to the appellant, which are detained pursuant to Exts.P8 and P9 documents produced along with the Writ Petition, on receipt of a copy of this judgment. We make it clear that the release of the goods shall not in any way prejudice the orders to be passed by the Appellate Authority in the statutory appeals preferred by the appellant.
The Writ Appeal is disposed as above.
Sd/- A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR JUDGE Sd/- MOHAMMED NIAS C.P.
JUDGE mns
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W.A.No.1902 of 2022 APPENDIX OF WA 1902/2022 PETITIONER ANNEXURES Annexure A1 TRUE COPY OF THE APPEAL FILED ON 04-01-2023 BY THE APPELLANT ALONG WITH PROVISIONAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT