Wilful failure to file return: complaint under income-tax law can withstand quashing despite no penalty or interest order.

A complaint for late filing of an income-tax return under section 276CC can survive a quashing challenge where it specifically alleges wilful failure to furnish the return in time. The statutory presumption of culpable mental state under section 278E applies in such prosecutions and is rebuttable at trial, so a bare denial of wilfulness is insufficient at the threshold. The absence of a penalty order under section 271(1)(a), or of material showing waiver or non-realisation of interest, does not by itself establish reasonable cause or negate the offence. On the face of the complaint, the ingredients of the prosecution were made out.

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Issues: Whether the prosecution for late filing of return under section 276CC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be quashed on the ground that the complaint did not allege wilful default and that no penalty or interest order had been passed against the assessee.

Analysis: Section 276CC penalises a wilful failure to furnish the return in due time. The complaint specifically alleged that the accused had wilfully failed to file the return within time, and the statutory presumption under section 278E of the Income-tax Act, 1961 operates in prosecutions requiring a culpable mental state. That presumption is rebuttable, but at the threshold the prosecution could not be quashed merely because the accused denied wilfulness. The absence of a penalty order under section 271(1)(a) or any material showing waiver or non-realisation of interest did not establish that the delay was with reasonable cause or that the department had accepted the assessee's explanation. On the face of the complaint, the ingredients of the offence were made out.

Conclusion: The quashing application was not maintainable on either ground and the prosecution was held to be legally sustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: For an offence under section 276CC of the Income-tax Act, 1961, a complaint alleging wilful failure to file the return in time is sufficient to withstand quashing, and the existence of a culpable mental state is presumed under section 278E unless rebutted in trial; the absence of a penalty or interest order does not by itself negate the prosecution.

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