15. Check post

(1) Officers of the Commercial Taxes Department not below the rank of an 1 Deputy Commercial Tax Officer shall be the officer prescribed for the purposes of sections 65, 66, 67, 68 and 69.

 Explanation.- For the purpose of this rule, the expression 'said officer' shall mean the officer prescribed in sub-rule (1) or the officer-in-charge of the check-post or barrier.

 (2) The driver or any other person in charge of the goods vehicle or boat or the consignor or consignee shall furnish adequate security, as the said officer may direct. The security bond shall be in Form II.

(3) For purposes of sub-section (3) of section 64 and sub-section (5) of section 67, the following shall be the documents to be sent along with the goods, namely:-

 (a)  A bill of sale or a delivery note in Form JJ generated from the website of the Commercial Taxes Department along with transporter’s way bill in Form MM generated from the website of the said Department and a goods vehicle record or trip sheet or log book.

Provided that the owner or person in charge of the goods vehicle may, instead of physically carrying the copy of the electronic way bill in Form MM, transport the goods with the proof by way of unique number generated by entering the details in the website of the said Department

(b) A certificate from the Village Administrative Officer when the goods under the transport are claimed to be agricultural produce other than sugarcane grown in his own land or on a land in which he has interest, or declaration signed by the agriculturist and by the registered dealer to whom the agricultural produce is transported; and

(c) (***) omitted

(4) A copy of the order of detention of the goods made under sub-section (3) of section 67 shall be served on the driver of the vehicle or the boat or other person in charge of the goods along with order specifying the tax or security to be paid for the release of the goods.

(5) The owner of the goods other than the goods, which are subject to speedy and natural decay ordered to be detained, shall pay the tax or security ordered to be paid within a period of one month from the date of the order.

(6) (a) If the amount of tax due or security directed to be paid, is paid, the said officer shall issue a receipt in the name of the person liable to pay tax specifying also the name and status of the person making such payment and shall release the goods.

(b) On receipt of the payment of the tax or security, the said officer shall allow the vehicle or boat to pass.

 (c) The said officer shall intimate the details of such collection to the concerned assessing authority within three days of such collection.

(7) (a) The security paid under sub-rule (5) or (6) shall, on application by the owner of the goods vehicle or boat or the consignor or the consignee, be either adjusted towards the tax due from him or be refunded to him, if he is found not liable to tax.

(b) When the owner of the goods vehicle or boat or the consignor or the consignee, as the case may be, wishes to have the security adjusted towards the tax due from him he shall send an application and the receipt for payment along with the return due from him. The application to claim refund of the amount shall be made to the assessing authority having jurisdiction over the place of business in the case of an assessee or over the place of residence in the case of others within thirty days from the date on which the amount was paid.

 (8) (a) The said officer shall cause to be published in the notice board of his office, a list of the goods detained and intended for sale with a notice under his signature, with seal specifying the place where, and the day and the hour at which the detained goods will be sold in open auction and shall display the copies of such list and notice in more than one public place near the check-post or the barrier or other place where the goods were detained. Copies of the list and notice shall be displayed in the office of the Territorial 1 [Deputy] Commissioner and the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over the area where the check-post or barrier or other place where the goods were detained is situated. A notice of 15 days shall be given before the date of the proposed auction.

(b) If the said officer is an officer below the rank of a 1 [Commercial Tax Officer], the auction shall be conducted by an officer not below the rank of a 1 [Commercial Tax Officer] having jurisdiction. Intending bidders shall deposit as earnest money a sum amounting to five per cent of the estimated value of the goods.

(c) At the appointed time, the goods shall be put up in one or more lots, as the officer conducting the auction may consider advisable, and shall be knocked down in favour of the highest bidder, subject to confirmation of the sale by the 1 [Deputy] Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Enforcement) concerned, where the value of the goods auctioned does not exceed Rs.25,000 and by the 1 [Joint] Commissioner in other cases.

(d) The auction purchaser shall pay the sale value of the goods in cash immediately after the sale and he will not be permitted to carry away any part of the goods until he has paid for the same in full and until the auction sale has been confirmed by the appropriate authority mentioned in clause (c). Where the purchaser fails to pay the sale value, the goods shall be resold by auction at once and earnest money deposited by the defaulting bidder shall be forfeited to the Government. The earnest money deposited by the unsuccessful bidders shall be refunded to them immediately after the auction is over.

(9) The sale proceeds shall be remitted into the Government Treasury as revenue deposit.

 (10) If any order of detention is reversed on appeal or revision, the goods so detained, if they have not been sold before such reversal comes to the knowledge of the said officer conducting the auction, shall be released or if they have already been sold, the proceeds thereof shall be paid to the owner of the goods. The charges, if any, incurred for the period of detention towards rent, hire, or wharfage, as the case may be, when the goods have not been sold, shall be a charge on the goods and shall be recovered from the owner of the goods, before the release of the goods or payment in lieu thereof, as the case may be, to him. (11) Any person from whom tax is due under section 67, shall, on application to the said officer who conducted the auction sale, and upon sufficient proof, be paid the sale proceeds mentioned in clause (d) of sub-rule (8) after deducting the expenses of sale and other incidental charges and the amount of tax due.

(12) The above procedure will apply mutatis mutandis in respect of orders directing refunds on revision or appeal.

(13) In all proceedings initiated against the driver or person in charge of the goods vehicle or boat, the name of the consignee and consignor, if known, shall be associated.

 (14) When the goods are moved for export or are cleared after import, the clearing and forwarding agent or any other person in charge of the goods vehicle or boat, who, on behalf of such agent transports the goods, shall carry with him the following documents in respect of the goods carried in the goods vehicle or boat, namely:-

(a) If the export is made from State,-

(i) Export sale invoice;

(ii) A trip sheet or log book, as the case may be; and

(iii) A declaration in electronic Form KK generated by the clearing and forwarding agent.

(b) If the export is made by a person from outside the State of Tamil Nadu,-

(i) Export invoice evidencing the movement of goods for export;

(ii) A trip sheet or log book, as the case may be; and

(iii) A declaration in electronic Form KK generated by the clearing and forwarding agent.

(c) In the case of movement of goods after clearance by Customs on import,-

(i) Copy of the bill of entry;

(ii) A declaration in electronic Form KK generated by the clearing and forwarding agent or / and application for issue of transit pass in electronic Form LL; and

(iii) a trip sheet or log book, as the case may be .

(15) The printout of the electronic Form KK generated and submitted through the website of the Commercial Taxes Department shall be used by the clearing and forwarding agent for the purpose of movement of goods for export or for movement of imported goods after clearance by customs from seaport or airport.

 (16) The clearing or forwarding agent or other person in charge of the goods vehicle or boat shall, within 48 hours after the goods are delivered, submit to the Territorial 3 [Deputy] Commissioner having jurisdiction over the area in which the goods are delivered, copies of goods vehicle records, trip sheet or log book, as the case may be, bill of sale or delivery note and also records showing the value of the goods imported.

(17) (a) The owner or other person in charge of a goods vehicle carrying the goods specified in the Sixth Schedule to the Act or the seller or consignor or transferor or clearing and forwarding agent of the goods specified in the said Schedule, as the case may be, shall make an application for generation of electronic transit pass, in Form LL, to the officer in charge of the first check post or barrier through the website of the Commercial Taxes Department.

(b) The officer in charge of the check post or barrier referred to in sub-section (1) of section 70, shall after examining the application and after making such enquiry as he deems necessary, generate and issue the transit pass in Form LL. The officer in charge of the check post or barrier specified in clause (a) above, shall retain one copy with himself or itself, as the case may be, and give two hard copies of the electronically generated transit pass in Form LL to the owner or other person in charge of the goods vehicle or the seller or consignor or transferor or the clearing and forwarding agent of goods.

(c) Notwithstanding anything contained in clauses (a) and (b) above, the seller or consignor or transferor or the clearing and forwarding agent of the goods shall generate transit pass in Form LL electronically. The seller or consignor or transferor or the clearing and forwarding agent of the goods shall retain one copy of the transit pass and give two copies to the owner or other person in charge of goods vehicle.

(d) The officer in charge of the check post or barrier or the seller or consignor or transferor or the clearing and forwarding agent of the goods generating electronic transit pass, as the case may be, shall specify the time within which the goods vehicle has to cross the last check post or barrier. The maximum time to be so fixed shall be twenty four hours up to a distance of three hundred kilometres from first check post or barrier or the place of consignment in the State to the last check post or barrier; forty eight hours for a distance exceeding three hundred kilometres but not exceeding six hundred kilometres from the first check post or barrier or the place of consignment in the State to last check post or barrier; and seventy two hours for a distance exceeding six hundred kilometres from first check post or barrier or the place of consignment in the State to last check post or barrier.

(e) The owner or other person in charge of the goods vehicle or the seller or consignor or transferor or the clearing and forwarding agent of goods, as the case may be, shall deliver or cause to be delivered one copy of the electronic transit pass to the officer in charge of the last check post or barrier and allow him to inspect the documents and goods in order to ensure that the goods being taken out of the State are the same for which the electronic transit pas has been generated. The officer in charge of the last check post or barrier shall acknowledge the receipt of the transit pass on the other copy of the electronic transit pass available with the owner or the other person in charge of the goods vehicle or the seller or the consignor or the transferor or the clearing and forwarding agent of the goods, as the case may be.

(f) The officer in charge of the last check post or barrier shall have powers to unload the search the contents of the goods vehicle to ensure that the goods moved out of the State are the same for which the electronic transit pass is generated b the seller or the consignor or the transferor or the clearing and forwarding agent of the goods as the case may be.

(g) The officer in charge of the last check post or barrier shall intimate the delivery of electronic transit pass to the officer in charge of the first check post or barrier who issued the electronic transit pass or to the assessing authority having jurisdiction over the place from where the goods are sold or consigned or transferred or the clearing and forwarding agent is located, indicating the variation, if any, noticed between the quantity or description of goods mentioned in the electronic transit pass generated by the seller or the consignor or the transferor or the clearing and forwarding agent, as the case may be, and the goods actually carried by the goods vehicle.

(h) (i) If for any reason, the goods vehicle after its entry into the State is not able to move out of the State within the time specified in the transit pass, for the reasons beyond the control of the owner or other person in charge of the goods vehicle, such person shall, seek extension of time from –

(a) The officer who issued the transit pass; or

(b) Any officer empowered to issue that transit pass; or

(c) the assessing authority of the area where the vehicle is stationed at the time of seeking extension of time;

(ii) The officer specified in sub-clause (i) may after examining the reasons for delay and after making such enquiry as he deems fit, extend the time limit specified in the transit pass.

(18) “(a) For the purpose of sections 67-A, 68 and 69, the owner or other person in charge of a vehicle or boat shall carry-

(i) A goods vehicle record, a trip sheet or a log book;

(ii) A bill of sale or a delivery note in electronic Form JJ, a transporter’s declaration in electronic Form MM and the declaration in electronic Form KK, in the case of movement of goods by clearing and forwarding agents;

(iii) A certificate from the Village Administrative Officer when the goods under transport are claimed to be agricultural produce other than sugarcane grown in his own land or on a land in which he has interest or a letter signed by the agriculturist and by the registered dealer to whom the agricultural produce is transported along with the delivery note in electronic Form JJ of the registered dealer;

(iv) A delivery note in electronic Form JJ and a transporter’s declaration in electronic Form MM, in the case of movement of goods from one place of business to another of a dealer either for sale or any other purpose.

(v) The movement of such goods, as may be notified by the Government from time to time as evasion prone, into the State, shall be accompanied, along with the sale bill, by an advance inward delivery note in Form JJ, electronically generated by the buyer or receiver of such goods and sent to the transporter or person in charge of the vehicle carrying such goods. A copy of such electronically generated delivery note in Form JJ shall be furnished at the entry check post or barrier or to the officer on inspection.

 (b) The bill of sale or delivery note or the certificate of declaration, as the case may be, in respect of the goods carried in the goods vehicle or boat shall be in triplicate, one copy of which shall be submitted to the Officer in charge of the first Check Post or barrier, the second copy to such officer in the last check-post or barrier through which the goods vehicle or boat may pass and the third copy shall be retained by the owner or other person in charge of the goods vehicle or boat. In the case of goods vehicle or boat which has not passed through any check-post, the owner or other person in charge of the goods vehicle or boat shall, within seven days after the goods are delivered, submit to the Territorial 1 [Deputy] Commissioner having jurisdiction over the area in which the goods are delivered, copies of goods vehicle record, trip sheet or log book as the case may be, and also the bill of sale or delivery note which accompanies the goods, and other relevant documents, or in case the goods are delivered outside the State, to the Territorial 1 [Deputy] Commissioner having jurisdiction over the area from which the goods were consigned. *

(19)(***) Omitted

 (20) Every registered dealer who uses delivery note in Form JJ shall maintain a register in Form NN. If any such form is lost, destroyed or stolen, the dealer shall report the fact to the registering authority, within a week of such loss, destruction or theft and shall make appropriate entries in the remarks column of the said register and take such other steps to issue public notice of the loss, destruction or theft as the registering authority may direct.

 (21) The 1 [Joint] Commissioner shall, from time to time, publish in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, the particulars of the delivery note in Form JJ in respect of which a report has been received under sub-rule (20).

(22) The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Commercial Tax Officer, Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner may exercise the powers specified in section 72 of the Act subject to the control and direction of the Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes.