Revised Return Penalty: No penalty without a prescribed deadline, but an incorrect return can still attract statutory punishment.

In the absence of any statutory or rule-based time-limit for filing a revised return, a revised return cannot be treated as belated for penal action under section 12(5)(ii) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, and penalty on that basis is not justified. However, where the return is factually incorrect, section 12(5)(iii) may still apply and the related penalty is sustained. The commentary therefore distinguishes between delayed revision of a return, which does not attract penalty without a prescribed deadline, and submission of an incorrect return, which remains liable to the statutory penal provision.

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Issues: (i) whether penalty could be levied for filing a revised return belatedly under section 12(5)(ii) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act; (ii) whether penalty was attracted for filing an incorrect return under section 12(5)(iii) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act.

Issue (i): whether penalty could be levied for filing a revised return belatedly under section 12(5)(ii) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: No time-limit was prescribed either in the Act or in the Rules for filing a revised return. In the absence of any statutory time-limit, the revised return could not be treated as belated for the purpose of penal action under section 12(5)(ii).

Conclusion: Penalty under section 12(5)(ii) was not justified.

Issue (ii): whether penalty was attracted for filing an incorrect return under section 12(5)(iii) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The return was found to be incorrect, and that factual position brought the case within the penal provision relating to incorrect returns.

Conclusion: Penalty under section 12(5)(iii) was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the revisional order failed overall, though the levy for belated filing was disapproved and the penalty for filing an incorrect return was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of a prescribed statutory time-limit, a revised return cannot be treated as belated for penal purposes, but filing an incorrect return may still attract the relevant penalty provision.

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