Penalty for defective transport documents requires proof of tax evasion; a blank Form 38 column alone is insufficient.

Penalty under Section 54(1)(14) of the U.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2008 could not rest solely on an unfilled column in Form 38. The Court held that the authority had to establish, on relevant material, an intention to evade tax; a blank entry was only a factor from which an adverse inference might be drawn. Because the goods matched the supporting documents, the vehicle carried Form 38, and the Tribunal's finding of no evasion was not shown to be perverse, the penalty was deleted and the revision failed.

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Issues: Whether penalty under Section 54(1)(14) of the U.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2008 was sustainable merely because Column 6 of Form 38 remained unfilled, or whether the Department had to establish an intention to evade tax.

Analysis: Penalty under the Act was held to depend on a finding that the goods were being transported in an attempt to evade payment of tax. Non-filling of one column in Form 38, by itself, was treated as only a circumstance from which an adverse inference may arise, not as the sole basis for penalty. The record showed that the vehicle carried Form 38 with other supporting documents and the goods matched those documents. The Court also relied on the departmental circular requiring the checking officer to fill blank particulars where the goods otherwise tallied, and held that the Tribunal's finding that there was no intention to evade tax was a factual finding not shown to be perverse.

Conclusion: Penalty was not justified on the facts, and the assessee succeeded on the issue.

Final Conclusion: The revision was held to be without merit and the Tribunal's order deleting the penalty was maintained.

Ratio Decidendi: Under Section 54(1)(14) of the U.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2008, penalty for defective transport documents cannot be sustained unless the authority records a finding, on relevant material, that there was an intention to evade tax; a mere blank column in Form 38 is insufficient.

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