MAHAVEER BANGLES Vs. COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER TARAPET VIJAYAWADA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Noticing conflicting decisions of this Court on the interpretation of section 14(2) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as "the APGST Act"), a Division Bench of this Court consisting of M. N. Rao and Reddappa Reddi, JJ., felt that the question needs to be resolved authoritatively by a Full Bench. Accordingly the matter has been placed before this Full Bench.

(2.) Sub-section (2) of section 14 of the APGST Act lays down :

(3.) The view expressed by a Division Bench of this Court consisting of Ramanujulu Naidu and Anjaneyulu, JJ., in Nagabandi Mallaiah v. State of A.P. [1988] 70 STC 160, was that the very same officer who passed an order of assessment to the best of his judgment should levy penalty simultaneously with the order of assessment. Following this decision, another Division Bench (Sivaraman Nair and Parvatha Rao, JJ.) in State of A.P. v. Venkateswara Oil Producers [1992] 86 STC 127 (AP) held that the penalty under sub-section (2), (3) or (4) of section 14 should be imposed only at the time when the assessment is made but not subsequent thereto. As against these two decisions, long ago, two Division Benches of this Court had taken the view that the levy of penalty need not be simultaneously and it can be levied by a different assessing authority after the assessment is made. These two cases which were noticed by the Division Bench that has made the present reference are : Sri Radhakrishna & Co. v. State of Andhra Pradesh [1962] 13 STC 117 (AP) and State of Andhra Pradesh v. Sri Immadisetty Venkateswarlu [1970] 25 STC 46 (AP). To this category, we may add one more case, i.e., a Division Bench judgment of this Court in State of Andhra Pradesh v. Rikabchand Siremal & Co. [1968] 22 STC 304.