MARWAH AND CO Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has impugned the order of the Assessing Authority, annexure P-l dated 10th March, 1975, in this writ petition.

(2.) SINCE the counsel for the petitioner has not pressed his attack against the impugned order on merits, it is not necessary to notice the facts in any great detail. Suffice it to say that for the assessment year 1972-73 and for the accounting period starting from 7th June, 1973, to 31st March, 1974, three quarterly returns were required to be filed, first return on 30th October, 1973, for the period from 7th June, 1973, to 30th September, 1973, second return on 31st January, 1974, for the period from 1st October, 1973 to 31st December, 1973, and the third and the last one on 30th April, 1974, for the period from 1st January, 1974, to 31st March, 1974. The petitioner, however, filed all the three returns together on 30th December, 1974. He had also not deposited the sales tax for the given period. The Assessing Authority acting under Section 46 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), imposed penalty at the rate of Rs. 8 per day and the final amount that became payable along with the interest and penalty of Rs. 250 under Section 47 came to Rs. 9,567.

(3.) MR. Narula confined himself to the challenging of the vires of Section 46 of the Act where the Assessing Authority had imposed penalty of a given sum upon the petitioner for not filing the returns in time and also for not depositing the tax along with the returns. Mr. Narula has canvassed that Section 46 suffers from the vice of excessive delegation of the legislative power and from the vice of vesting in the authority mentioned in Section 46 uncontrolled and unguided power in the matter of imposition of penalty.