K SAMPANGIRAMA RAJU Vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER FIFTH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN these writ petitions, the petitioners who are assessees under the INcome-tax Act have challenged the constitutional validity of section 140A(3) of the INcome-tax Act, 1961 ("the Act").

(2.) PENALTY is leviable under the said proviso for any failure to pay the tax or any part of it along with the return furnished under section 139 or under section 148 of the Act.

(3.) TO recapitulate, the reasons given by the Madras High Court are : that the penalty levied under section 140A(3) is not compensatory or interest on the delayed payment of tax and its retention has no relation to the duration of the delay or the wilful or other nature of the violation or the inability to pay the tax. It was also held that it has no rationale or intelligible nexus with the recovery of tax and was, therefore, violative of article 19(1)(f) of the Constitution.