The Commissioner Commercial Tax U.P. Lucknow vs. M/S Golden Paints
Held
The Court held that the Tribunal was justified in deleting the penalty as the absence of mens rea was established. The penalty provisions require a finding of mens rea, which was not proven by the revenue.
Facts
The assessee claimed input tax credit (ITC) of Rs. 1,00,017/- which was found to be falsely derived. The Assessing Authority imposed a penalty under Section 54(1)(19) of the UP Act. The First Appellate Authority allowed the appeal, and the Commercial Tax Tribunal dismissed the department's second appeal.
Key Issues
Whether the Tribunal was legally justified in deleting the penalty under Section 54(1)(19) of the UP Act on the basis of absence of mens rea. Whether mens rea is a necessary ingredient for imposing penalty under the relevant provisions.
Sections Cited
Section 54(1)(19), Section 16, Section 10(b), Section 10A, Rule 45(13)
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
1 Court No. - 38 Case :- SALES/TRADE TAX REVISION No. - 177 of 2021 Revisionist :- The Commissioner Commercial Tax U.P. Lucknow Opposite Party :- M/S Golden Paints Counsel for Revisionist :- Jagdish Mishra Counsel for Opposite Party :- Shubham Agrawal Hon'ble Jayant Banerji,J.
Heard Shri Jagdish Mishra, learned Standing Counsel appearing for the revisionist and Shri Shubham Agrawal, learned counsel for the opposite party.
By means of this revision, the judgement and order dated 31.12.2020 passed by the Commissioner Tax Tribunal, Kanpur in Second Appeal No. 67 of 2019 has been assailed on the grounds that, firstly, the tribunal has erred in misreading the language of the provision in Section 54(1)(19) of the U.P. VAT Act, 20081 and, secondly, the judgement in the case of M/S Western India Match ground that the accounts of the assessee for the year 2012-12 to 2017-18 was duly audited which has been overlooked by the tribunal. It is further stated that finding of the absence of mens rea has been wrongly recorded by the tribunal as the burden of proof under
The judgment continues below.
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