False certificate penalty requires assessee's own false declaration; wrongly issued departmental recognition certificate is insufficient.

Penalty under clause (l) of section 15-A(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act applies only where the dealer or other person himself issues or furnishes a false certificate or declaration that causes tax to cease to be leviable. On the stated facts, the assessee merely applied for a recognition certificate and the department issued it; no false declaration by the assessee and no revenue loss were found. A wrongly issued departmental certificate, by itself, does not satisfy the statutory condition for penalty. The penalty was therefore not attracted, and the revision failed.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 15-A(1)(l) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 was attracted where the recognition certificate had been issued by the department to an assessee who was otherwise not entitled to it, but the assessee had not issued or furnished any false certificate or declaration.

Analysis: Penalty under clause (l) of section 15-A(1) is attracted only when a dealer or other person issues or furnishes a false certificate or declaration by reason of which tax ceases to be leviable. On the facts found, the assessee had merely applied for the recognition certificate and the department itself had granted it. The finding recorded was that no false declaration had been made by the assessee and no loss of revenue had occurred. If the certificate was wrongly issued, the fault lay with the department and not with the assessee. The statutory condition for invoking penalty was therefore absent.

Conclusion: Penalty under section 15-A(1)(l) was not attracted, and the revision was liable to be dismissed in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Penalty for furnishing a false certificate or declaration cannot be imposed unless the assessee himself issues or furnishes such false document; a wrongly issued departmental certificate does not by itself attract clause (l).

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