COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX Vs. INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this reference under Section 44 (1) of the M. P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, hereinafter called the Act, the Board of Revenue has referred the following question of law to this Court for its opinion :

(2.) THE material facts giving rise to this reference briefly are as follows :

(3.) THE short question for consideration in this case is whether the Board was justified in setting aside the penalty imposed on the assessee for failure to furnish along with the return statements in forms VIII-B and XII-A as prescribed by Rule 15 (4) of the M. P. General Sales Tax Rules, 1959, hereinafter referred to as the Rules. Now, Rule 15 (4) of the Rules provides that the return required to be furnished under Rule 15 (1) shall be accompanied by the documents mentioned therein. The question as to whether failure to furnish documents, which have to be filed along with the return by virtue of Rule 15 (4), would attract the penal provisions contained in Section 17 (3) of the Act, came up for consideration before a Division Bench of this Court in Jiwanmal Sons Private Ltd. v. Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax [1971] 28 S. T. C. 247, and it was held that a penalty under Section 17 (3) of the Act could not be imposed for failure to file with the return any document which is required by Rule 15 (4) to be filed along with the return. Learned counsel for the Commissioner did not point out any reason for holding that the decision of this Court in Jiwanmal Sons Private Ltd. v. Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax [1971] 28 S. T. C. 247 required to be reconsidered. In these circumstances, following the decision in Jiwanmal Sons Private Ltd. v. Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax [1971] 28 S. T. C. 247, our answer to the question referred to this Court is that levy of penalty under Section 17 (3) of the Act, on account of failure to furnish along with the return, statements under forms VIII-B and XII-A prescribed by Rule 15 (4), is not justified.