Question 2 - What is meant by the term penalty? - Faq On GST (2nd Edition) Dated 31.3.2017

Q 2. What is meant by the term penalty? Ans. The word penalty has not been defined in the CGST/SGST Act but judicial pronouncements and principles of jurisprudence have laid down the nature of a penalty as: a temporary punishment or a sum of money imposed by statute, to be paid as punishment for the commission of a certain offence; a punishment imposed by law or contract for doing or failing to do something that was the duty of a party to do.