JAMES P. A. Vs. COMMISSIONER OF COMMERCIAL TAXES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal filed by a business concern from Tamil Nadu against the order of the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Thiruvananthapuram under Section 37 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act. The sales tax authorities noticed from the check post records that the appellant made sale of jaggery from Tamil Nadu to various dealers in Kerala. However, when notices were issued, the purchasers in Kerala denied the transactions. Since the purchases were denied by the dealers in Kerala, notices were issued to the appellant under Section 30B(4) of the KGST Act asking to prove the sale with the identity of dealers in Kerala. The appellant sought opportunity to cross-examine the purchasers in Kerala. Even though notices were issued, the purchasers did not turn up to give evidence for appellant. However, the appellant did not produce any evidence regarding the details of payments received or receipts issued. In other words transactions could not be proved by the appellant as sales made to the dealers shown in the documents. This lead to levy of penalty on the appellant under Section 30B(4) of the KGST Act. When the appellant filed revision against the orders issued by the assessing officer, the Deputy Commissioner allowed the revision stating that the imposition of penalty under Sec.30B(4) is not justified. Accordingly he cancelled the penalty order. The Commissioner of Commercial Taxes in exercise of a suo motu revisional power under Section 37 of the KGST Act reversed the order of the Deputy Commissioner and restored penalty by holding that the penalty provided under Section 30B(3) of the KGST Act applies to the proceedings under Sec.30B(4) of the Act also. The appellant has come up in appeal against this order.

(2.) We have heard the counsel appearing for the appellant and the Government Pleader appearing for the respondent.

(3.) In order to appreciate the contentions we have to refer to the relevant clauses in Sec.30B of the KGST Act and for easy reference those provisions are extracted below: