Transporters around the nation will go on an indefinite strike from tomorrow i.e. July 20th 2018. This strike has been announced with the intention to raise a complaint against the steadily increasing fuel cost, uncontainable toll taxes, GST observance problems, practical issues with e-way bills including some more matters. The umbrella organization of transporters, AIMTC, has announced the strike.
The MP high court has upheld a heavy penalty of Rs 1,32,13,683 forced on “Gati Kintetsu Express Pvt Ltd” for fault in the e-Way bill, triggering this transport strike from tomorrow, 20th of July, that is just one day ahead of GST Council meet, which is about to take place on 21st of July.
The state tax department had mandated a penalty amount of Rs 1.32 crore, under Section 122 of SGST Act. This is because the company was unsuccessful to provide complete details in part B of the e-Way bill. The company has objected to the fine in MP High Court, mentioning that the issue took place because of some technical error on the e-waybill NIC portal. On the other hand, the High Court has rejected the appeal stating that the company’s reason of technical issue in NIC portal is pointless as it did not bring up its grievance on the portal.
The Indirect Tax Partner at SKP Business Consulting, Jigar Doshi, stated that…….
“The GST implementation saw a lot of setbacks on technology and now strikes by trade unions, a looming standstill of transportation, ie, “Nation Wide Chakkajam” could paint a picture of civil unrest within India,”.
Video Source – India Today Social
In his further comments, Doshi also stated that….
“The industry is not averse to the idea of e-way bill systems as it is not new in concept to many states but what is impacting the industry is the severe penalties for non-compliances/defaults of compliance which may or may not be system driven,”.
