Penalty for wrong return posting rejected where sales were recorded in books and corrected before detection.

Mere wrong posting of sales in the return did not justify penalty under section 16(1)(e) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 where the transactions were fully recorded in the books and a revised return correcting the accounting error was filed before detection and well before assessment. The Tribunal's reliance on earlier non-payment was insufficient to prove concealment or deliberate furnishing of inaccurate particulars, so the penalty was held unsustainable. The availability of an alternative remedy was not treated as an absolute bar to writ jurisdiction where the challenged finding was perverse and contrary to law, and the order restoring the penalty was quashed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the penalty imposed under section 16(1)(e) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 was justified on the facts of the case, and whether the writ petition could be entertained despite the availability of an alternative remedy.

Analysis: The disputed sales of edible oil tins were already reflected in the account books, and the wrong description in the original return was due to an accounting error in posting them as tax-paid. A revised return correcting the mistake was filed before the survey of the business premises and long before the assessment order. The circumstances relied upon by the Tribunal, particularly non-payment of tax at the earlier stage, were held to be insufficient to establish concealment or deliberate furnishing of inaccurate particulars. The existence of an alternative remedy was not treated as an absolute bar to the exercise of writ jurisdiction where the finding under challenge was perverse and contrary to law.

Conclusion: The penalty under section 16(1)(e) was not sustainable, and the Tribunal's order restoring the penalty was quashed.

Final Conclusion: The assessee was held not liable to penalty for concealment, and the order of the appellate authority deleting the penalty was restored.

Ratio Decidendi: Mere wrong posting of sales in the return, when corrected by a revised return before detection and where the transactions were fully recorded in the books, does not amount to concealment or deliberate furnishing of inaccurate particulars for the purpose of penalty.

---