Penalty for disputed transport documents requires proof they were false, forged, or otherwise not genuine.

Penalty under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act goods-checking provisions cannot be sustained merely because a transaction appears doubtful when bill and bilty were available at the time of interception. Before imposing liability, the authority must conduct a proper enquiry and record a finding that the transport documents are false, forged, spurious, or otherwise not genuine. In the absence of such factual determination, a duplicate bill or suspicion about the transaction does not by itself establish contravention. The stated ratio is that penalty depends on a lawful factual foundation and guilty animus, and without that foundation the penalty is not sustainable.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 78(5) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994 could be sustained for alleged violation of section 78(2) when the transport documents were available at the time of checking and their genuineness was not enquired into.

Analysis: The available documents showed that the goods were accompanied by bill and bilty at the time of interception. Before fastening penal liability, the assessing authority was required to hold a proper enquiry and determine whether the documents were false, forged, or otherwise spurious. In the absence of such enquiry, mere doubt about the nature of the transaction or the presence of a duplicate bill could not, by itself, justify a finding of contravention under section 78(2). Since penalty under section 78(5) depends on a lawful factual foundation and the existence of guilty animus, the revisional court found no question of law arising from the Tax Board's order.

Conclusion: Penalty under section 78(5) was not sustainable, and the revision petition failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where prescribed documents are available at the time of checking, penalty under the goods-checking provisions cannot be imposed unless the authority first holds a proper enquiry and records a finding that the documents are false, forged, or otherwise not genuine.

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