NOSHIRWAN AND CO Vs. COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this reference under Section 44 of the M. P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, hereinafter called the Act, the Board of Revenue has referred the following questions of law for the opinion of this Court :

(2.) THE material facts giving rise to this reference briefly are as follows:

(3.) THE learned counsel for the assessee contended that under the provisions of Article 20 of the Constitution no person can be subjected to a penalty greater than that which could have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of commission of the offence. It was contended that no penalty was imposable for late filing of return or for delay in payment of tax when the wrongful acts were alleged to have been committed by the assessee. It was, therefore, contended that no penalty should have been imposed on the assessee notwithstanding the fact that retrospective operation had been given to the provisions of the amended Section 17 (3) of the Act. It was also contended that the amended provisions of Section 17 (3) were ultra vires the Constitution.