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2018 (1) TMI 35 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxWhether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Gujarat Value Added Tax Tribunal was justified in refusing to grant waiver of pre-deposit for admission of appeal and grant of stay against recovery of dues? Held that: - there is nothing to indicate any complicity on the part of the appellant in filing the manual revised return with a view to defraud the Government. Even in the charge-sheet filed after conclusion of the investigation, there is no allegation whatsoever against the appellant and on the contrary, the proprietor and his son are shown as witnesses. In this background, when the additions have been made on the basis of such fraudulent revised return showing huge sales while the regular returns filed by the appellant were of sales of much less volume, it cannot be gainsaid that if the appellant is not involved in the fraud, it is by and large a dealer working on a small scale and having an annual turnover of rupees ten to twenty lakh and consequently, would not be in a position to pay even a fraction of the tax, penalty and interest, as assessed on the basis of the sales shown in the revised returns. Having regard to the fact that there is not even a whisper of an allegation against the appellant insofar as the commission of fraud by filing revised return is concerned, at least for the purpose of waiver of pre-deposit the appellant ought to have been given the benefit of doubt and permitted to prosecute the appeal without saddling it with the onerous liability of making pre-deposit of amounts beyond its capacity. Considering the backdrop of the case, this court is of the view that the Tribunal was not justified in not granting complete waiver in payment of pre-deposit to the appellant. Appeal allowed.
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