Penalty reduction under sales tax law denied where reduced penalty already reflected actual tax involved in suppressed turnover.

Penalty under Section 45A of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act was not liable to further reduction where the taxpayer had already suppressed a substantial part of turnover and the revisional authority had reduced the penalty to the actual tax involved on the basis of the assessment order. A further reworking of the penalty on a smaller tax figure said to be attributable only to the suppressed turnover was ed because there was no justification to depart from the reduced figure already adopted. The challenge to the penalty orders therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether the penalty imposed under Section 45A of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act required further reduction to confine it to the tax attributable only to the suppressed turnover found by the Intelligence Officer.

Analysis: The petitioner was found to have failed to disclose a substantial part of turnover, and penalty proceedings were initiated under Section 45A of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act. The revisional authority had already reduced the penalty to the actual amount of tax involved and adopted the tax figure determined in the assessment order. The claim for a further reduction on the basis of a smaller tax figure said to be attributable to the suppressed turnover was rejected, as the petitioner had already obtained the benefit of the reduced penalty and there was no justification to rework the penalty on the basis suggested by him.

Conclusion: The further reduction of penalty was not warranted and the challenge to the penalty orders failed.

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