Apex transporters' body, the All India Transporters' Welfare Association (AITWA) met top finance ministry officials on Monday to discuss issues related to the recent changes in e-way bill rules and the consequent hit to the transporter sector.

The transporters' body, represented by Pradeep Singhal, Chairman, AITWA, submitted that a distinction should be drawn between GST evaders and those who make errors in drawing up the e-way bills while meeting revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CBIC Chairman Ajit Kumar, and CBDT Chairman P C Mody at the North Block in New Delhi.

Transporters across the country have been ruing the latest amendment in the GST laws, which has halved the validity of the e-way bill, a permit associated with the inter-state and intra-state movement of goods, from 100 km per day, to 200 km per day. Penalties for a truck carrying a consignment with an expired e-way bill, or with an erroneous e-way bill amount to 200 percent of the tax value, or 100 percent of the invoice value.

For small and medium transporters, especially those involved in part-load movement of goods or retail transportation, complying with the new rule has meant a higher and costly compliance burden, with many alleging they have had to pay penalties running into lakhs of rupees, for circumstantial delays.

Revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey had earlier said that the new e-invoicing system under GST will soon replace e-way bills altogether. Currently, e-invoicing is available for businesses with an annual turnover of more than Rs 100 crore.

Singhal said that the government officials agreed in principle to the grievances shared by the transporters' body, and have assured the fraternity to examine the matter. The officials will hold another round of meeting with industry representatives to deliberate measures to simplify compliance with the GST rules.

All India Motor Transport Congress, another apec transporters' body has also repeatedly cited the e-way bill amendment as an "impractical" rule detrimental to the ease of doing business.

AITWA, however, will continue its call for the Bharat Bandh, or a nation-wide strike for the February 26 in the meantime.

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)

First Published:Feb 15, 2021 9:06 PM IST