Penalty proceedings need recorded satisfaction in assessment; writ jurisdiction remained available despite an appellate remedy.

Penalty under section 22A(1) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 required the assessing authority to form and record, in the assessment proceedings themselves, satisfaction that the dealer had concealed sales or furnished inaccurate particulars. Findings made only for best judgment assessment under section 11(1) were insufficient to satisfy that jurisdictional condition, so a successor officer could not validly initiate penalty action on that basis. A writ petition challenging such action on jurisdictional grounds was maintainable despite an alternative appellate remedy, because no disputed facts required adjudication. The penalty notices and consequential orders were therefore quashed.

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Issues: (i) Whether penalty proceedings under section 22A(1) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 could be initiated by a successor Sales Tax Officer when the assessment orders did not record the requisite satisfaction that the dealer had concealed sales or furnished inaccurate particulars. (ii) Whether the writ petitions were not maintainable because the petitioner had an alternative statutory remedy by way of appeal.

Issue (i): Whether penalty proceedings under section 22A(1) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 could be initiated by a successor Sales Tax Officer when the assessment orders did not record the requisite satisfaction that the dealer had concealed sales or furnished inaccurate particulars.

Analysis: The statutory precondition for penalty was the Commissioner's or authorised officer's satisfaction, formed in the course of the proceedings, that the dealer had concealed the particulars of sales or furnished inaccurate particulars and had thereby returned figures below the real amount. Such satisfaction had to be reflected in the assessment order itself, though no particular form of words was necessary. Findings recorded only for the purpose of best judgment assessment under section 11(1) were not enough, because the ingredients and purpose of assessment under section 11(1) were distinct from those governing penalty under section 22A(1). Since the earlier assessment orders did not show that the assessing officers had directed their minds to penalty action, the successor officer could not validly initiate penalty proceedings on that basis.

Conclusion: The initiation of penalty proceedings and the consequential penalty orders were invalid, and the decision was in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the writ petitions were not maintainable because the petitioner had an alternative statutory remedy by way of appeal.

Analysis: The challenge raised a pure question of jurisdiction and did not require investigation of disputed facts. In such circumstances, the existence of a statutory appellate remedy did not bar the High Court from exercising writ jurisdiction to examine whether the taxing authorities had acted within their lawful powers.

Conclusion: The preliminary objection to maintainability was rejected, and the writ petitions were maintainable.

Final Conclusion: The penalty notices and the resultant penalty orders were quashed, while the objections as to maintainability failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Penalty under section 22A(1) could be sustained only when the assessing authority had, in the assessment proceedings themselves, formed and recorded the requisite satisfaction regarding concealment; findings made solely for assessment under section 11(1) could not substitute for that jurisdictional condition.

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