Tax evasion penalty upheld where interception evidence and absent rebuttal confirmed transport without required documents.

Penalty for tax evasion under the Punjab Value Added Tax Act was upheld because the Department's interception material, drivers' statements, and contemporaneous records supported the finding that goods were transported without prescribed documents and without mandatory declaration at the Information Collection Centre. The assessee failed to produce account books or other reliable rebuttal evidence to displace the inference of evasion or the claim of forcible seizure. As the concurrent factual findings were neither perverse nor legally untenable, the HC held that no substantial question of law arose for interference in second appeal and sustained the penalty.

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Issues: Whether the penalty for evasion of tax under the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 was sustainable on the basis of the material on record and whether any substantial question of law arose for interference in second appeal.

Analysis: The authorities below concurrently found that the goods were transported from Delhi in three trucks without the prescribed documents, that the drivers' statements supported the Department's case, and that the assessee failed to produce account books or other reliable evidence to substantiate the claimed stock position or the alleged forcible seizure theory. The evidentiary burden, once discharged by the Department through the interception material and contemporaneous record, shifted to the assessee, but no rebuttal evidence was produced. The finding that the transportation was effected through an escape route and without mandatory declaration at the Information Collection Centre was not shown to be perverse or erroneous. In these circumstances, the inference of intent to evade tax and the consequent penalty were upheld.

Conclusion: The penalty was sustained and no substantial question of law arose for interference.

Ratio Decidendi: In a tax evasion penalty case, concurrent factual findings based on interception material, drivers' statements, and absence of rebuttal evidence will not be disturbed in second appeal unless shown to be perverse or legally untenable; once the Department discharges its initial burden, the onus shifts to the assessee to rebut the presumption of evasion.

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