Non-production of check-post documents completes the contravention, and later filing does not erase penalty liability.

Non-production of the prescribed documents and declaration at the check-post or on demand completed the contravention under section 22A(7) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, because section 22A(3) required the person in charge of the vehicle to carry and produce them at that stage. Rules 62-A and 63 governed seizure, release, notice, and inquiry, but did not create any substantive right to cure the default by later production. Subsequent filing of reliable documents within the notice period did not extinguish the completed offence. The view that no offence was made out was rejected, and penalty liability was affirmed.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 22A(7) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 was attracted when the driver failed to produce the requisite documents and declaration at the check-post or on demand, and whether later production of the documents within the notice period under rules 62-A and 63 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Rules, 1955 could wipe out the offence.

Analysis: Section 22A(3) required the owner or person in charge of the vehicle to carry and produce the prescribed documents and declaration at the check-post or before the empowered officer. Failure to do so attracted penalty under section 22A(7), and the offence was complete when the documents and declaration were not produced at the relevant time. Rules 62-A and 63 only regulated the nature of the documents, seizure, release, and the procedure for notice and inquiry. They did not create any substantive right to avoid liability by producing the documents after detection. The later production of documents, even if they were found reliable, did not undo the completed contravention.

Conclusion: The Tax Board was wrong in holding that no offence was made out and in treating subsequent production within 15 days as sufficient to avoid penalty. The penalty under section 22A(7) was rightly exigible, and the revenue's case succeeded.

Final Conclusion: The common order of the Tax Board was set aside and the penalty orders passed by the assessing authority, as affirmed in appeal, were restored.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute obliges the person in charge of goods to produce prescribed documents and declaration at the check-post or on demand, the contravention is complete on non-production at that stage, and procedural provisions for notice or later inquiry do not extinguish the substantive penalty liability.

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