Vehicle detention on route deviation
The law does not prescribe a route. Officers frequently assume it does.
Neither the Act nor Rule 138 prescribes the route a vehicle must take. A deviation from the shortest route is therefore not by itself a contravention, and detention on that ground alone is unsustainable. Where the department alleges diversion for the purpose of an unaccounted delivery, it must establish that on material, and the taxpayer's answer is the delivery record, the consignee's confirmation and the commercial reason for the route.
The answer to the allegation
There is no statutory route requirement. Say so first, because the officer's assumption is the foundation of the detention.
Give the commercial reason: a multi drop trip, a fuel or rest stop, a road closure, a weighbridge, a customer's alternate gate, or a driver's residence en route with the consignment sealed.
Establish that the consignment is intact: the seal, the quantity and the consignee's receipt on delivery.
Where multiple consignments are carried, produce the trip sheet and all the documents; a partial document set invites an inference.
Where the department has a case
Where the vehicle is found at a location inconsistent with any plausible route and part of the consignment is missing.
Where the goods carried exceed the documents, which is a substantive contravention.
Where the same vehicle is repeatedly found off route with discrepancies, establishing a pattern.
In those situations the case is evidentiary, and the answer lies in the stock and delivery records rather than in the route argument.
What to do on Monday
State in the reply that no route is prescribed, before anything else.
Carry a trip sheet and the complete document set for multi drop consignments.
Obtain the consignee's confirmation of full receipt promptly after release.
Record the commercial reason for unusual routes in the dispatch system.
This page states the general position. A reader with a specific question on their own facts may write to the GST practice at AMLEGALS.
Write to the GST practiceQuestions we are asked on this
Is there a prescribed route for a consignment?
No. Neither the Act nor the rules prescribe one.
Can detention be sustained on deviation alone?
No. The department must establish a contravention, and a route choice is not one.
What if the driver stopped overnight at home?
Not a contravention by itself. Establish the consignment was intact and delivered in full.
Does a multi drop trip complicate this?
It requires a trip sheet and the complete document set for all consignments. Carry them.
What if part of the load is missing?
That is a substantive issue and the answer must come from the stock and delivery records, not the route.
In this cluster
- E-way bill law in 2026: generation, validity and the recent portal changes
- Section 129 detention: how to get the truck released today, and the penalty reduced later
- Section 130 confiscation: the conditions and where the department cannot go
- Synergy Fertichem: the line between detention under Section 129 and confiscation under Section 130
- Expired e-way bill in transit: penalty, defence and precedent
- Clerical errors in the e-way bill and Circular 64/38/2018
- MOV-01 to MOV-11: the inspection paper trail and what to demand
- Section 68: inspection of goods in movement
- Perishable goods and expedited release
- Penalty on the transporter versus the owner of the goods
GST Insights is published by AMLEGALS for general information. Law stated as on 3 September 2026. Not advice on any particular set of facts; not an advertisement or a solicitation under Rule 36 of the Bar Council of India Rules. Readers with a question on their own facts may write to the GST practice of their own accord.