Penalty for delayed payment of admitted tax requires factual proof of default; bare records cannot sustain the levy.

Penalty under section 16(1)(b) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act applies where an assessee fails to pay tax admitted in the return within the statutory time allowed for payment, because that liability arises independently of assessment and section 7(2) must be read with section 7(2A) where applicable. Tax determined only on assessment stands on a different footing. The penalty could not be sustained here, however, because the record contained no factual particulars establishing the alleged default. The penalty orders were therefore set aside and the matter remitted for fresh decision.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 16(1)(b) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 could be imposed for non-payment of tax admitted in the return within the time allowed by the Act, and whether the matter required reconsideration for want of factual material.

Analysis: The expression "within the time allowed" in section 16(1)(b) was construed to apply to the period prescribed under the Act for payment of tax admitted by the assessee in the return, since such liability does not await ascertainment by the assessing authority. For the purpose of the relevant period, section 7(2) had to be read along with section 7(2A) where applicable, while tax determined only in assessment would stand on a different footing. At the same time, the record before the authorities contained no factual particulars of the alleged default on the basis of which penalty had been imposed.

Conclusion: The penalty provision was held applicable only on the above construction, but the existing material was insufficient to sustain the penalty, so the penalty orders were set aside and the matter was remitted for fresh decision.

Ratio Decidendi: For penalty under section 16(1)(b), the relevant default is failure to pay tax within the statutory time allowed for payment of tax admitted in the return, and penalty cannot be sustained without factual findings establishing such default.

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