Form 31 disclosure under U.P. trade tax law need not be confined to the importer; penalty failed without a proven Section 28-A breach.

Form 31 under the U.P. trade tax scheme was treated as a disclosure document meant to inform the department that goods were being imported into Uttar Pradesh so tax liability could be identified and recovered from the person ultimately liable. The court applied earlier rulings to hold that Form 31 need not be issued only in the name of the owner of the goods or only by the person physically importing them; it may also be furnished by the purchaser or by the person for whom the goods are supplied. Since the goods were accompanied by Form 31 and the transaction was disclosed, non-registration of the importer alone did not establish a breach of Section 28-A, and the penalty could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether penalty under Section 15-A(1)(o) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act was sustainable on the ground that Form 31 accompanying the goods was issued by the purchaser and not by the applicant importer, and whether this amounted to violation of Section 28-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The statutory scheme was read to mean that Form 31 serves the limited purpose of informing the department that goods are being imported into Uttar Pradesh so that tax liability may be determined and recovered from the person ultimately liable. Earlier decisions were applied to hold that Form 31 need not necessarily be issued only in the name of the owner of the goods or only by the person physically importing them, and that it may be furnished either by the purchaser who ordered the goods or by the person for whom the goods are supplied. On the facts, the goods were accompanied by Form 31 and the transaction was disclosed to the department. The finding that the applicant was not a registered dealer, by itself, did not establish a breach of Section 28-A.

Conclusion: The alleged violation of Section 28-A was not made out and the penalty under Section 15-A(1)(o) could not be sustained.

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