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TMI Blog1965 (1) TMI 41X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lties had been imposed in violation of Article 20(1) of the Constitution, but it is not necessary to deal with this question because we are inclined to accept the contention raised by the learned counsel for the respondent, Mr. Garg, that the penalties have been imposed in violation of the relevant statutory provisions. The relevant facts are these. On March 28, 1955, Rajasthan Sales Tax Rules (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) were published in the Rajasthan Gazette. The Rajasthan Sales Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) came into force on April 1, 1955. The respondent filed Civil Writ Petition No. 11 of 1958 in the High Court challenging the making of assessments on the turnover of the respondent for the year 1955-56 on the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rs of the accounting period October 23, 1957, to. November 10, 1958. It is not clear from the record whether he filed returns on these dates. On April 25, 1960, the Sales Tax Officer made an assessment in respect of the accounting period November 3, 1956, to October 22, 1957, and proceeded to impose a penalty of Rs. 400 under section 16(i)(b) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act. He justified the imposition of penalty thus: "The assessee has not deposited tax of the quarters on the due date. The tax deposited for 4th quarter is very late, i.e., after two years. The assessee was given a notice and in reply to which he referred the stay order of the Honourable High Court granted to him in a writ petition filed challenging the validity of Sales Tax ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... enalty in respect of the accounting period October 23, 1957, to November 10, 1958. As we have said before, the High Court allowed the petitions. The learned Advocate-General has raised a number of points before us and particularly invited us to hold that the High Court was in error in holding that there has been contravention of Article 20(1) of the Constitution, and that the Rules as originally published on March 28, 1955, suffered from no procedural defect in the matter of their promulgation and duly came into force on April 1, 1955. But we express no opinion one way or the other on these points as the appeals can be disposed of on a narrow point of the construction of the Act. The relevant provisions of the Act read thus: "Section 7. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he time allowed; or ............................................... the assessing authority may direct that such person shall pay by way of penalty, in the case referred to in clause (a) in addition to the fee payable by him, a sum not exceeding Rs. 50 and in the case referred to in clause (b), in addition to the amount payable by him, a sum not exceeding half of that amount, and that in cases referred to in clauses (c) and (d), in addition to the tax payable by him, a sum not exceeding half the amount of tax determined; in the case referred to in clause (e), in addition to, the tax payable by him a sum not exceeding double the amount of tax, if any, which would have been avoided if the taxable turnover as returned by such person had been ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ning of the words "time allowed", but we need not decide in this case whether the words "time allowed" connote time allowed by an assessing authority or time allowed by a provision in the Rules or the Act, or all these things, as we are of the view that no tax was due within the terms of section 16(1)(b) of the Act. Section 3, the charging section, read with section 5, makes tax payable, i.e., creates a liability to pay the tax. That is the normal function of a charging section in a taxing statute. But till the tax payable is ascertained by the assessing authority under section 10, or by the assessee under section 7(2), no tax can be said to be due within section 16(1)(b) of the Act, for till then there is only a liability to be assessed to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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