Natural justice requires fresh hearing before sustaining penalty for blank or incomplete ST 18-A declaration forms.

Penalty under section 78(5) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act could not be sustained without affording the assessee a fresh opportunity of hearing where the ST 18-A declaration form was found blank or incomplete. Applying principles of natural justice and earlier Supreme Court and High Court decisions, the Court held that the penalty question had to be reconsidered afresh by the assessing authority. The penalty orders were quashed and the matter was remanded for de novo decision after hearing the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the penalty proceedings under section 78(5) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994 required fresh consideration after granting the assessee an opportunity of hearing where the declaration form ST 18-A under rule 53 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Rules read with section 81 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994 was found blank or incomplete.

Analysis: The revision was decided in the context of earlier decisions of the Supreme Court and the High Court, and the Court proceeded on the footing that principles of natural justice must be observed before sustaining penalty. Since the matter had earlier been dealt with without the benefit of a fresh hearing as contemplated by the later line of decisions, the impugned orders were not allowed to stand and the penalty question was required to be reconsidered afresh by the assessing authority.

Conclusion: The penalty orders were quashed and the matter was remanded to the assessing authority for fresh decision de novo after affording the assessee an opportunity of hearing.

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