Monthly duty default attracts interest and penalty where the full duty is not paid by the due date despite partial payment.

Failure to pay the whole monthly duty by the prescribed due date triggered liability to interest from the day after default and attracted penalty under the scheme. Partial payment did not avoid the charging provision, because the relevant default was non-payment of the entire duty payable for the month by the 10th. As the balance duty was paid only later, the default continued and the consequence of interest and penalty remained operative.

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Issues: Whether interest and penalty were leviable where the assessee failed to pay the full monthly duty by the prescribed due date.

Analysis: The notification governing the scheme provided that if a manufacturer failed to pay the whole of the duty payable for any month by the 10th of that month, the outstanding duty carried interest at the prescribed rate from the 11th day until actual payment, and penalty was also attracted. The fact that part of the duty was paid did not take the case outside the charging provision, because the default was in not paying the entire amount by the due date. The differential duty was admittedly paid only later, so the liability to interest and penalty survived.

Conclusion: Interest and penalty were correctly imposed, and the assessee's partial payment did not exempt it from the consequences of default.

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