https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=257060 Penalty under section 90 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 cannot be imposed mechanically. Where the provision requires a reasonable opportunity of hearing and confers discretion both on whether to impose penalty and on the quantum, the authority must record reasons showing application of mind. A coercive quasi-judicial penalty order must be a speaking order, and a notice that merely states penalty is imposed without explaining why penalty is warranted or how the amount was fixed is arbitrary and unsustainable. On that basis, the penalty order was quashed and the connected recovery proceeding could not survive. en-us Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0530 Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:18:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=257060 Penalty under section 90 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 cannot be imposed mechanically. Where the provision requires a reasonable opportunity of hearing and confers discretion both on whether to impose penalty and on the quantum, the authority must record reasons showing application of mind. A coercive quasi-judicial penalty order must be a speaking order, and a notice that merely states penalty is imposed without explaining why penalty is warranted or how the amount was fixed is arbitrary and unsustainable. On that basis, the penalty order was quashed and the connected recovery proceeding could not survive. Case-Laws VAT and Sales Tax Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=257060