Revised return filed before pre-assessment notice defeats sales tax penalty where assessment is made on that return.

Penalty under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act was held unsustainable where the dealer filed a revised return before issuance of the pre-assessment notice and the assessment was completed on that revised return. On those facts, levy of penalty under section 12(3) was unwarranted, and the same reasoning applied to the appellate reduction of penalty and the Tribunal's treatment of penalty under section 12(5). The Revenue's challenge therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether penalty could be sustained under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 when the assessee had filed a revised return before issuance of the pre-assessment notice and before final assessment.

Analysis: The revised return was filed before the pre-assessment notice, and the assessment was completed on the basis of that return. On these facts, the levy of penalty under section 12(3) was held to be unwarranted. The same reasoning also applied to the reduction of penalty by the appellate authority and to the Tribunal's consideration of penalty under section 12(5).

Conclusion: The penalty could not be sustained, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Penalty under the sales tax provisions is not sustainable where the dealer files a revised return before pre-assessment notice and the assessment is made on that return, absent the conditions justifying such penalty.

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