Penalty for concealment requires guilty intention; bona fide omission to report separately collected sales tax did not attract liability.

Penalty under section 43(1) of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 required deliberate concealment of turnover or a false return, and therefore a finding of guilty intention. On the stated facts, the Tribunal recorded no finding of mens rea, and the assessee's omission to separately include collected sales tax in the returned turnover was explained as a bona fide belief that it need not form part of the sale price. In the absence of the necessary guilty mind, penalty was not exigible for the 1961 assessment period, and the reference was answered in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 43(1) of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 was legally sustainable for the assessment period 1961 when the assessee did not include separately collected sales tax in the returned turnover.

Analysis: Section 43(1), as it stood in 1961, contemplated deliberate concealment of turnover or furnishing of a false return, which imports a guilty intention. The Tribunal recorded no finding that the omission was with a guilty mind. The assessee's explanation was that it bona fide believed separately collected sales tax was not required to be shown as part of the sale price, and on those facts the element necessary to attract penalty was absent.

Conclusion: Penalty under section 43(1) was not exigible on the facts of the case, and the question referred was answered in the negative in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Penalty for deliberate concealment or false return cannot be imposed unless the authority finds a guilty intention, and a bona fide omission without such mens rea does not attract section 43(1) as it stood in 1961.

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