Penalty cannot rest on Form-49 overwriting alone when goods, bills, and accounts show no discrepancy.

Penalty under the U.P. Trade Tax Act could not be sustained merely because Form-49 contained overwriting where the bill and bilty accompanied the goods, physical verification disclosed no discrepancy, and the books of account showed no infirmity. The transport form irregularity, by itself, was insufficient to treat the goods as improperly accounted for when the supporting documents were verified and the accounts were produced at the penalty stage. On those facts, the penalty was held unsustainable and the issue was answered in favour of the assessee.

---

---

Issues: Whether penalty under Section 13-A(4) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 could be sustained solely on the basis of overwriting in Form-49 when the bill and bilty accompanied the goods and no discrepancy was found in the goods or accounts.

Analysis: The penalty rested only on the overwriting in Form-49 used for transportation of goods. No discrepancy was found on physical verification of the goods, and no infirmity emerged from the bills or the books of account. The books were produced at the penalty stage and the bills were verified therefrom. In those circumstances, the goods could not be treated as improperly accounted for merely because of the overwriting in the transport form.

Conclusion: The penalty could not be imposed solely on the basis of the overwriting in Form-49. The question was answered in the negative, in favour of the assessee and against the revenue.

---