https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=128993 Penalty under section 43(1) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act can be sustained only where the dealer is shown to have deliberately concealed turnover or filed a false return, and only after a reasonable opportunity of hearing. Penalty proceedings are penal in character, so the department bears the burden of proving the essential ingredients, and findings in assessment proceedings do not operate as res judicata in the penalty stage. The assessee must be allowed to produce evidence in defence; denial of material documents, refusal to permit evidence, and treating assessment findings as conclusive breach the statutory safeguard and render the penalty order unsustainable. en-us Tue, 27 Apr 1965 00:00:00 +0530 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:55:36 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=128993 Penalty under section 43(1) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act can be sustained only where the dealer is shown to have deliberately concealed turnover or filed a false return, and only after a reasonable opportunity of hearing. Penalty proceedings are penal in character, so the department bears the burden of proving the essential ingredients, and findings in assessment proceedings do not operate as res judicata in the penalty stage. The assessee must be allowed to produce evidence in defence; denial of material documents, refusal to permit evidence, and treating assessment findings as conclusive breach the statutory safeguard and render the penalty order unsustainable. Case-Laws VAT and Sales Tax Tue, 27 Apr 1965 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=128993