Composite assessment and penalty order upheld where no express statutory bar exists under sales tax law.

An assessing authority under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 may validly pass a single composite order covering both assessment and penalty where the Act and rules contain no express prohibition. The Court treated the absence of a statutory bar as decisive and noted that the departmental form's penalty heading, though inconsistent with the Act and rules, did not invalidate the combined order. The challenge to the composite assessment-cum-penalty order therefore failed, and the practice of combining both determinations in one order was upheld.

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Issues: Whether an assessing authority under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 could validly pass one composite order covering both assessment and penalty.

Analysis: The applicants challenged the legality of combining the assessment order and the penalty order in a single order. The Court noted that there was no express prohibition in the Act or the rules against such a course. It further observed that, although Form XV of the Bombay Sales Tax (Procedure) Rules, 1954 did not refer to penalty under section 39-A, the form used by the department contained a penalty heading, which was inconsistent with the Act and the rules. The absence of statutory prohibition was treated as decisive.

Conclusion: The passing of one order embodying both assessment and penalty was held to be permissible, and the challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of an express statutory bar, an authority may combine assessment and penalty in one order under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953.

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