Penal liability for return-filing defaults applies only when every statutory ingredient is proved; non-filing under one provision cannot be punished under another.

A penal provision can be invoked only when all its statutory ingredients are satisfied. The Karnataka High Court noted that section 29(g) penalised failure to submit the statement required by section 12-B(1), which applied to an assessee whose turnover crossed the prescribed threshold. Because there was no allegation or proof that the dealer fell within that category, mere non-filing of monthly returns under section 12 did not attract section 29(g). The conviction and sentence were therefore unsustainable, and the revision was allowed with refund of any fine paid.

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Issues: Whether a registered dealer who was not shown to be an assessee under the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957 could be convicted under section 29(g) for failure to submit monthly returns under section 12-B.

Analysis: Section 10 dealt with registration of dealers, section 12 required returns from specified dealers, and section 29(g) created a penal consequence only for failure to submit the statement required by section 12-B(1). The liability under section 29(g) depended on the statutory requirement under section 12-B(1), which applied to an assessee, namely a dealer whose turnover reached the prescribed threshold. In the absence of any allegation or proof that the petitioner's annual turnover brought him within that category, mere failure to file returns under section 12 did not attract the penal provision. As the statute did not make failure to submit returns under section 12 independently punishable, the conviction could not stand.

Conclusion: The prosecution was not maintainable against the petitioner on the facts found, and the conviction under section 29(g) was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The revision was allowed and the orders of conviction and sentence were set aside, with refund of any fine paid.

Ratio Decidendi: A penal provision must be applied only when all its statutory ingredients are satisfied, and failure to file a return under one provision cannot be punished under another provision unless the legislature has expressly created that offence.

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