PUNE: The Pune zonal office of the GST commissionerate has detained trucks of Mercedes Benz India, Hyundai Construction Equipment India, Syska LED and an iron and scrap dealer for allegedly plying goods, estimated to be worth Rs 2.96 crore, without the mandatory e-way bill.A top GST official said under Section 129 of the GST Act, the e-way bill is mandatory if the value of the transported goods is over Rs 1 lakh (in Maharashtra ) and if the distance plied by the vehicle transporting the goods is over 50km.GST commissionerate officials detained the trucks on the night of November 30. Since then, according to an official, “only the scrap dealer, whose goods were worth Rs 10 lakh, has come forward.”When contacted, the companies concerned attributed the “rule violation” to clerical errors at the end of their logistics service providers, while clarifying that there was no intention to evade any taxes.“We had no intention to evade any taxes and the problem was at the end of our logistics provider and they will be taking care of this,” Yogesh Agarwal, head-finance and accounts, Syska LED, said.Syska LED’s logistics provider Safexpress also confirmed the company’s claims. “Our team is taking this up with the GST authorities in Pune to get this (the detention) cleared and sorted out,” Ajay Khanna, general manager – Maharashtra and Goa, said in a statement.Hyundai Construction Equipment’s head of sales Joydeep Bakshi said, “There are two parts to an e-way bill. One is generated from the company and the other was to be generated by the dealer. The dealer has made some error. There was no attempt to evade any taxes.”Mercedes Benz said in a statement that the company was investigating the lapse that has happened from its logistics partner.The GST officials have estimated that there will be a tax and penalty of about Rs 2 crore combined before the goods are released.

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