HC Gives Relief to Petitioner Against Penalty u/s Section 129 of CGST Act

The petitioners, M. A. Traders and 7 others faced a penalty under Section 129(1)(b) of the CGST Act, where the petitioners were not considered as the owners of the goods. Therefore, the petitioner filed a writ petition where they asked the court to grant the following relief:

• To give order or direction to cancel the order dated 30.05.2025 passed by the assistant commissioner under section 129(3) of UP GST Act 2017.
• To cancel the rectification order dated 05.06.2025 passed under Section 161 of the same Act.
• To direct the Assistant Commissioner to release the goods and vehicle that were seized under Section 129(1)(a) of the Act.

Submission Made by Petitioner

The learned counsel of the petitioner lawyer referred to a previous judgement by the Court in the case of M/s Halder Enterprises v. State of U.P. and others reported in 2024 (2) ADJ 660 (DB). In that case, the Court had looked into the same issue.

High Court’s Decision

The court observed that since a proper invoice was available in this case, the authorities have wrongly imposed a penalty under Section 129(1)(a) and 129(1)(b) of the CGST Act. Therefore, the court ruled in favour of the petitioner and quashed and set aside the order dated 30.05.2025.

Additionally, the court also directed the authority to give a chance to the petitioner for a hearing and, after that, issue a valid order within eight weeks.