9911796707
TMI Blog1981 (8) TMI 201X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o be issued for the sum. The dealer in the course of the assessment had taken up the stand that a larger amount of tax had been paid by him, but the Sales Tax Officer found that there was nothing on the record to substantiate this allegation. He, however, directed that on the dealer furnishing proof of payment of a larger amount of tax, he would be given benefit of it. A direction was given for charging two per cent interest on the shortfall of tax on the admitted turnover as from 9th September, 1976. The petitioner has challenged the imposition of interest on various grounds. The first ground taken is that the Sales Tax Officer did not give credit for the amount of tax deposited by him. There is a clear direction in the order of the Sales ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... emed always to have been inserted. " Section 9(4) which purports to be a validating provision was to the following effect: "9. (4) Any interest charged or paid or purporting to have been charged or paid, and any proceeding, act or thing taken or done or purporting to have been taken or done for charging or paying any interest, under the provisions of the general sales tax law of any State read with section 9 of the principal Act, before the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to be and to have always been as validly charged, paid, taken or done as if the amendment made by clause (b) of section 6 had been in force when such interest was charged or paid or when such proceeding, act or thing was taken or done. Explanation.-For the pur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s 581, 582 of 35 STC) of the Reports: "Penalty is not merely sanction. It is not merely adjunct to assessment. It is not merely consequential to assessment. It is not merely machinery. Penalty is in addition to tax and is a liability under the Act. Reference may be made to section 28 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, where penalty is provided for concealment of income. Penalty is in addition to the amount of income-tax. This court in Jain Brothers v. Union of India [1970] 77 ITR 107 (SC) said that penalty is not continuation of assessment proceedings and that penalty partakes of the character of additional tax. * * * For the foregoing reasons we are of opinion that the provisions in the State Act imposing penalty for non-payment of in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d the Rules made thereunder, the authorities for the time being empowered to assess, reassess, collect and enforce payment of any tax under the general sales tax law of the appropriate State shall............. In other words, the powers of the State Sales Tax Officers are specifically limited by the provisions of the Central Act. They cannot go beyond these provisions. The next part of section 9(2) of the 1956 Act further emphasises this aspect by making it clear that these powers are exercisable only 'for this purpose'. In other words, they are not authorised to collect dues for purposes extraneous to the Central Act. We may then go to the last part of section 9(2) of the 1956 Act, which is strongly relied upon on behalf of the States conc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndoubtedly support the contention of the petitioner. The question arises as to whether on account of retrospective amendment effected in section 9(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act by the Central Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1976, the position has changed. We have already extracted section 9(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act and have also quoted section 6(b) and section 9(4) of the Central Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1976 (Act No. 103 of 1976). Now section 9(4) of the amending Act validates charge of interest under the provisions of the State law, and seeks to rest the validity of such charge on the amendment effected in section 9(2) by section 6(b) of the Amendment Act. It is settled that a validating Act in order to be effective must not only de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
