Dishonoured cheque for tax payment treated as non-payment, making penalty valid under the tax default provision.

A dishonoured cheque tendered with a sales tax return amounted to non-payment of tax under section 10(3) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, because the tax was not in fact paid in the prescribed manner. The default was treated as a failure to pay tax, not merely a defect in filing the return or in accompanying it with the prescribed receipt. Section 11(1) applied to return-filing defaults, while section 11(3a), inserted later, separately governed defaults in payment of tax. Penalty was therefore correctly imposed under section 11(3a) against the assessee.

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Issues: Whether penalty could be imposed under section 11(3a) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 when a dealer's cheque tendered with the return towards tax payment was dishonoured.

Analysis: Section 10(3) required a registered dealer to pay the tax due before furnishing the quarterly return and to file the prescribed receipt, though payment could also be made in another prescribed manner. Section 11(1) dealt with failure to furnish a return accompanied by the required receipt and was directed to defaults in filing the return. Section 11(3a), introduced later, separately covered a default in making payment of tax. A dishonoured cheque meant that the tax had not in fact been paid as required by section 10(3), and the default was therefore one in payment of tax rather than a mere failure to accompany the return with a receipt.

Conclusion: Penalty was rightly leviable under section 11(3a), and the question was answered in the affirmative in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee.

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