The assessee is liable to pay tax and penalty as imposed by the Competent Authority and affirmed by the Appellate Board.: HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT INDORE
This appeal is hereby dismissed by HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT INDORE in the case of M/S AMRIT REFINED PRIVATE LIMITED V. THE COMMISSIONER OF COMMERCIAL TAX through HON’BLE JUSTICE VIVEK RUSIA
FACTS OF THE CASE
In this case, the appellant is a Private Limited Company Incorporated under the provisions of Companies Act, 1956 (now the Companies Act, 2013). The appellant is engaged in the business of manufacturing edible oil from crude oil. The appellant sales the edible oil inter-state mostly on ‘C’ form issued by purchasing dealers. During the period from 01.04.2006 to 31.03.2007, the petitioner sold the goods to the various dealers, who had sent the form ‘C’ to the appellant. The original assessment of the appellant under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 was completed by the assessing authority vide order dated 14.01.2009 by accepting ‘C’ form declaration produced by the appellant. The assessment authority has reopened the assessment in exercise of power under Section 21(1) of M.P. VAT Act, 2002 on the basis of some information about the nonverification of some of the form ‘C’ by the Anti Evasion Bureau of the Department. In the re-assessment proceedings, the legal representative of appellant appeared and demanded the nonverified form ‘C’ from the department in order to take action against the dealers. After completing the re-assessment proceedings, vide order dated 12.05.2015 the assessing authority has imposed the tax of Rs.3090240/- with the three times penalty Rs.9270720/- and issued a demand notice for recovery of Rs. 12360960/-
JUDGEMENT
The appellant cannot escape from its liability to pay tax merely by submitting that he received the certificate and produced before the department and he has no concerned about its genuineness. Since 2015, the appellant has not taken any action against the dealer, who gave the certificate to the appellant. This Court has held that Form- C submitted by the purchaser have been found forged, which clearly shows that the purchasers are not registered dealer, therefore, the assessee is liable to pay tax and penalty as imposed by the Competent Authority and affirmed by the Appellate Board. It has also been held that the breach of civil obligation will immediately attract penalty irrespective of whether the contravention is with a guilty intention.
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JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY SHREYA NIDHI