Consolidated sales tax penalty order unsustainable without apportioning liability between separate periods and disputed benefit dates.

A consolidated sales tax penalty order was found unsustainable where liability was not segregated between the original and expanded capacity periods after modernisation. The operative date of the deferment or exemption benefit under the New Industrial Policy, 1989 and the linked statutory amendment were in dispute, and that uncertainty affected the alleged non-deposit of tax. Because the order did not apportion the penalty between the period before and after the amendment date, it could not stand on the existing record. The matter was therefore remanded for fresh consideration of the factual and legal position.

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Issues: Whether the consolidated penalty orders levying sales tax penalty on the unit were sustainable, and whether the matter required remand for fresh decision.

Analysis: The benefit of deferment or exemption under the New Industrial Policy, 1989 was connected with the statutory amendment introducing section 30-A of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act. There was admitted confusion as to the date from which the benefit became operative, and this confusion had a bearing on the non-deposit of tax. The impugned orders imposed penalty both for the original capacity and the increased capacity after modernisation, but they were consolidated and did not disclose any break-up showing the penalty relatable to the period before and after the amendment date. In such circumstances, the orders could not be sustained without a proper segregation of liability and a fresh consideration of the factual and legal position.

Conclusion: The penalty orders were unsustainable and were quashed, and the matter was remanded to the Assessing Authority for a fresh decision.

Ratio Decidendi: A consolidated penalty order that fails to apportion liability between distinct periods, where the governing benefit and its operative date are themselves in dispute, is unsustainable and must be reconsidered afresh by the authority.

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