Concealment penalty quantum follows the law on the return filing date, not the later reassessment amendment.

For concealment penalty, the governing quantum is determined by the law in force on the date the original return was filed, not by an amended provision introduced later and applied at reassessment. Where the alleged concealment relates to returns filed before 1 April 1968, the earlier penalty regime applies even if detection occurred in reopened proceedings under sections 147 and 148. The amended quantum provision was therefore inapplicable to the original returns, and penalty had to be recalculated under the pre-amendment law, with only the minimum penalty under that earlier regime sustained.

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Issues: Whether, for levy of penalty for concealment, the quantum had to be determined by the law in force on the date when the original return was filed, rather than by the amended provision in force on the date of reassessment.

Analysis: The assessee had filed the original returns before 1 April 1968, while the concealment was detected later in proceedings reopened under sections 147 and 148. The Tribunal accepted that concealment, if any, is referable to the date of filing of the return and that the applicable penalty law is the law then in force. It therefore treated the amended quantum provision as inapplicable to the original returns and held that the penalty had to be recalculated under the earlier law.

Conclusion: The penalty quantum was required to be determined under the law as it stood when the original returns were filed, and not under the amended provision introduced from 1 April 1968, which was in favour of the assessee on the question of quantum.

Final Conclusion: The penalty orders were sustained only to the extent consistent with the pre-amendment law, and the matter stood adjusted by directing levy of the minimum penalty under the earlier regime.

Ratio Decidendi: For concealment penalties, the governing law is the law in force on the date of filing the return that allegedly concealed income, and not the law in force on the date of detection or reassessment.

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