Substantial compliance with declaration requirements can defeat penalty where the missing form is later produced before assessment.

Penalty for non-production of declaration form ST-18A at the time of checking was held unsustainable where the form and supporting documents were produced before the assessment order and in response to the show-cause notice. The later filing amounted to substantial compliance with the statutory requirements, and prior authority recognised that a defect capable of being cured during inquiry should not attract penalty where natural justice requires an opportunity to rectify it. The matter also involved concurrent findings of fact, and revisional interference was not warranted because revision lay only on a question of law.

---

---

Issues: Whether penalty was leviable under section 78(5) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994 for non-production of declaration form ST-18A at the time of checking, when the form and other required documents were produced before the assessing officer before the assessment order was passed.

Analysis: The required documents were available at the time of checking except the declaration form ST-18A, and that form was subsequently filed in to the show-cause notice before the assessment order. In such a situation, the statutory requirements stood substantially complied with. The prior decisions applied the principle that where a document is not immediately available by mistake but is produced during the inquiry, principles of natural justice may require an opportunity to cure the defect, and later production can amount to sufficient compliance. The revisional court also noted that the matter involved concurrent findings of fact and revision lay only on a question of law under section 86 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994.

Conclusion: Penalty under section 78(5) was not sustainable, and no revisional interference was warranted.

---