https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=161852 Penalty under section 25-B of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act was held unsustainable where the contractee's failure to deduct tax at source was found to be only technical and not intentional. The provision's use of "may" in sub-section (5) makes penalty discretionary rather than automatic, so non-compliance does not by itself justify punishment. Once the Tribunal found that the tax was ultimately deposited and the default lacked deliberateness, mens rea was excluded and the foundation for penalty proceedings disappeared. The penalty was therefore liable to be cancelled in full in favour of the assessee. en-us Wed, 19 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0530 Fri, 07 Feb 2014 18:51:09 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=161852 Penalty under section 25-B of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act was held unsustainable where the contractee's failure to deduct tax at source was found to be only technical and not intentional. The provision's use of "may" in sub-section (5) makes penalty discretionary rather than automatic, so non-compliance does not by itself justify punishment. Once the Tribunal found that the tax was ultimately deposited and the default lacked deliberateness, mens rea was excluded and the foundation for penalty proceedings disappeared. The penalty was therefore liable to be cancelled in full in favour of the assessee. Case-Laws VAT and Sales Tax Wed, 19 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=161852