Appeal against wealth-tax penalty order remains maintainable despite rejection of waiver petition under the Act.

An appeal lies against a Wealth-tax Officer's penalty order under Section 18(1)(a) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, and its maintainability depends on the appealable character of that order itself. Rejection of an assessee's waiver or reduction petition under Section 18(2A) does not extinguish or bar the separate appellate remedy against the penalty order. The Court followed its connected decision delivered the same day and held that pending or failed proceedings for waiver do not displace the statutory right of appeal against the penalty imposed.

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Issues: Whether an appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was maintainable against a Wealth-tax Officer's order imposing penalty under Section 18(1)(a) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, despite the assessee's petition for waiver or reduction of penalty under Section 18(2A) having been dismissed by the Commissioner of Wealth Tax.

Analysis: The reference was answered by following the principle already applied in the connected decision delivered the same day, under which the existence of proceedings under Section 18(2A) did not bar an appeal against the penalty order passed by the Wealth-tax Officer under Section 18(1)(a). The maintainability of the appeal depended on the appealable character of the penalty order itself, not on the fate of the waiver petition before the Commissioner.

Conclusion: The appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: An appeal lies against a penalty order passed by the Wealth-tax Officer under Section 18(1)(a) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, and that right is not displaced merely because the assessee's petition for waiver or reduction of penalty under Section 18(2A) has been rejected.

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