Asian Paints To Furnish A Bank Guarantee For GST Department To Release The Detained Goods: Madras High Court

The petitioner, Asian Paints, is a leading brand and manufacturer of paints and is a public limited company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 and also registered under GST.

The petitioner imported Titanium Dioxide Rutile bearing TN 07 AV 7881 from M/s. Tronox Pigments Private Limited, Australia for their manufacturing plant at Sriperumbudur. The goods were inspected by the department and the petitioner was issued with the Order of Detention on Form GST MOV-06 along with the penalty notice under Section 129 (3) of the CGST Act, 2017 and TNGST Act, 2017.

The petitioner challenged the detention order, which was disposed of by the court with a direction to the petitioner to raise all the points on merits before the adjudicating authority and directed the respondents to pass an order within a period of two weeks after giving an opportunity to be heard by considering the circumstances of the case.

The petitioner submitted that it would suffice if the Court issued a direction to the department to accept the bank guarantee equivalent to the disputed penalty amount of Rs.25,86,662/- in accordance with the provisions of Section 129(1)(c) of the CGST Act, 2017 and provisionally release the goods in the vehicle.

The department submitted that if the petitioner could annex the bank guarantee along with the copy of the representation made before the department immediately after the receipt of the bank guarantee, the detained goods would be released within a period of one week from the date of receipt of the bank guarantee.

The court permitted the petitioner to obtain and annex the bank guarantee within a period of one week along with the application/representation. If such a bank guarantee and application are made, the respondents are directed to release the detained goods to the petitioner within a period of one week.

Case Title: Tvl.Asian Paints Limited Versus The Assistant Commissioner (ST)

Case No: W.P.No.9567 of 2022

Dated: 18.04.2022

Counsel For Petitioner: Advocate Aparna Nandakumar

Counsel For Respondent: Additional Government Pleader C.Harsha Raj

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 188

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