Tax prosecution requires proof of no reasonable cause or excuse; mere delayed filing or non-payment is insufficient.

Sections 276(b) and 276(d) of the Income-tax Act require the prosecution to prove that the default occurred without reasonable cause or excuse; mere late filing of a return or delayed payment of deducted tax is not enough. The absence of reasonable cause or excuse is an essential ingredient of the offence, and the prosecution must also show a deliberate and conscious default. As there was no allegation or evidence on that ingredient, no offence was made out and the acquittal was sustained.

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Issues: Whether prosecution under section 276(b) and section 276(d) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for failure to file the return and failure to pay deducted tax can succeed without proof that the default was without reasonable cause or excuse.

Analysis: The statutory language "fails without reasonable cause or excuse" makes absence of reasonable cause or excuse an essential ingredient of the offence. Mere proof that the return was filed late or the tax deducted was not paid in time is insufficient. The prosecution must further establish that the default was deliberate and conscious and that there was no reasonable cause or excuse for the delay. In the absence of allegation or evidence on this ingredient, criminal liability cannot be fastened.

Conclusion: The requirement of proving absence of reasonable cause or excuse was not satisfied, so no offence was made out against the respondents.

Final Conclusion: The acquittal was sustained and the revenue's appeal was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a penal provision for tax default is conditioned by the words "without reasonable cause or excuse," the prosecution must prove that condition as part of the offence; a mere default in time is not enough.

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