Technical breach without intent to evade tax does not justify penalty under the U.P. Trade Tax Act.

Penalty under section 15-A(1)(o) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act was held unsustainable where goods were accompanied by form No. XXXI containing the necessary particulars, even though the form had been declared obsolete. The Court treated the lapse as a technical breach because the obsolescence was not shown to be within the assessee's knowledge and no intention to evade tax was established. It held that penalty provisions of this kind require culpable intent, not a mere procedural irregularity, and the penalty orders were set aside.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 15-A(1)(o) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 was sustainable when the goods were accompanied by form No. XXXI, though the form had been declared obsolete and there was no intention to evade tax.

Analysis: The goods were found accompanied by a form containing the necessary particulars. The defect was that the form had already been declared obsolete by the sales tax authority, but this was not shown to be within the knowledge of the assessee. On these facts, the breach was only technical and did not establish an intention to evade tax. Penalty provisions of this nature require more than a mere procedural irregularity and cannot be invoked in the absence of culpable intent.

Conclusion: Penalty was not leviable and the orders imposing penalty were rightly set aside.

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