Penalty for pre-1997 additional sales tax dues barred where the statute had not yet conferred charging power.

Penalty under section 12(3)(b) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act could not be levied for additional sales tax dues relating to a pre-1997 assessment period because the statutory power to impose that penalty arose only from 1997. In the absence of an operative charging provision for the 1995-96 assessment year, the levy was unsustainable. The court applied the principle that penalty cannot be imposed unless the statute expressly authorises it, and the principal Act could not supply that authority for the later-enacted additional sales tax regime without specific enabling words.

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Issues: Whether penalty could be imposed under section 12(3)(b) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 for additional sales tax dues under the Tamil Nadu Additional Sales Tax Act, 1970 for an assessment period prior to 1997.

Analysis: The issue turned on whether the power to levy penalty existed in the relevant statutory regime during the assessment year 1995-96. The cited legal position was that the power to impose penalty under the relevant provision was introduced only from 1997. In the absence of an operative charging provision for the earlier period, penalty could not be sustained. The decision followed the earlier view that a penalty cannot be levied unless the statute contains a substantive charging section authorising such levy, and that the principal Act could not be treated as the source of power for the later enactment in the absence of such authority.

Conclusion: Penalty under section 12(3)(b) could not be imposed for the pre-1997 assessment period, and the question of law was answered in favour of the assessee.

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