Kerala HC: No Need of E-Way Bill If Consignment Less Than INR 50k

The judgment was passed in a case where the Kerala High Court ordered the release of goods that were seized (of value less than Rs 50000) for the reason that petitioner did not have an e-way bill and a detention notice was issued to him in Form GST MOV-7. In the aforesaid case, watches were consigned to the petitioner at a discounted rate of Rs.8.99 by the Delhi-based consignor/seller.

It is worth mentioning here that the transportation of the goods was accompanied by a tax invoice, where the supplier in Delhi had revealed the actual price of the consignment of watches, which was Rs.4,49,550/- along with a discount of Rs.8.99 and had additionally paid Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST) at the rate of 18% on the actual value of the watches.

Thereafter, The consignment was seized by the respondent on the ground that although the consignment was covered by a valid invoice, an e-way bill was not presented. The learned counsel for the petitioner responded that since the discounted value of the goods was less than Rs.50,000/-, there was no requirement for the consignment to be accompanied by an e-way bill Get to know about GST E Way bill and its generating process through online and SMS in a simple manner. Also, we have attached original screenshots of official E way bill portal for better understanding.

While upholding the contention of the petitioner. the single-judge bench of Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar directed the respondent to release the goods and the vehicle to the petitioner on the petitioner producing a copy of this judgment before the concerned authorities.