The petitioner suggests that the authority ought to have exercised discretion to conclude whether penalty could be levied or not. The Court is not at all agreeable to the said proposition. As long as the provision to revalidate the e-way bill remains in the rule book, the same is required to be strictly complied despite the fact that the same may be practically difficult to implement. The practice and procedure to obtain way bill electronically from the portal suggests that there is minimal manual interference and there is no scope to exercise discretion at any stage. Opportunity of hearing is given to allow the person in charge of the goods and/or the conveyance to produce relevant documents to rebut the charge and not for examining the reason or ground for not being able to act in accordance with law.
