The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Excessive Court docket has dominated {that a} enterprise registered below the Items and Companies Tax (GST) Act can’t interact in brick buying and selling with out acquiring the necessary licence prescribed below native regulatory legal guidelines.
The Court docket made this remark whereas dismissing a sequence of petitions filed by brick sellers difficult the orders of district authorities who had seized their automobiles transporting bricks imported from outdoors the Union Territory. The sellers argued that since they held legitimate GST registrations, they have been authorised to commerce freely.
Rejecting this argument, the Court docket clarified that registration below the GST Act solely ensures compliance with taxation obligations and doesn’t substitute the requirement of particular licences below different legal guidelines. The bench famous that brick manufacturing, sale, and transport in Jammu and Kashmir are ruled by the Brick Kilns (Regulation) Act, 2010, and the corresponding guidelines framed below it.
The judges noticed that the aim of the licensing regime is to control the sector within the curiosity of environmental safety, truthful commerce practices, and financial stability throughout the area. Permitting unrestricted buying and selling merely on the idea of GST registration, the Court docket mentioned, would undermine the intent of the regulatory framework.
Upholding the motion taken by native authorities, the Court docket dominated that every one brick sellers and merchants should adhere to the licensing provisions and that unlicensed buying and selling may entice penalties, seizure of products, and different authorized penalties.
The decision reinforces that GST compliance alone doesn’t confer buying and selling rights the place extra regulatory circumstances are mandated by regulation.
