Bona fide omission defeats sales tax penalty where disclosure and absence of intent to mislead are established.

Penalty under the U.P. Sales Tax Act for omitting a godown from a registration application was held unsustainable where the omission was found to be a bona fide mistake and not an attempt to mislead the department. The Tribunal accepted that the godown had been disclosed in the stock register and in an application to the Regional Food Controller, and that no guilty intention or design to evade the law was shown. Mere non-mention of the godown, without additional circumstances indicating concealment, was insufficient to justify penalty.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 15-A(1)(h) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act was sustainable when the assessee had omitted to mention the godown in the registration application but the omission was found to be bona fide and without intent to mislead the department.

Analysis: The Tribunal's finding was that the assessee, though dealing in foodgrains, had failed to mention the godown in the registration application by mistake and not with any guilty intention. The godown was disclosed in the stock register and in the application made to the Regional Food Controller. On these findings, mere non-mention of the godown was held insufficient to attract penalty unless additional circumstances showed an intention to evade the law.

Conclusion: The penalty was not sustainable and the revision failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Penalty for non-disclosure is not attracted where the omission is a bona fide mistake and there is no intention to mislead or evade the law.

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