https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=405696 Section 43(2) of the Orissa Value Added Tax Act, 2004 confers discretion on the assessing authority to impose penalty only where escapement or under-assessment is found to be without reasonable cause, because the provision uses the word "may". By contrast, Section 42(5) provides for a mandatory penalty equal to twice the tax assessed in an audit assessment and leaves no discretion. The earlier observation treating penalty as automatic was therefore recalled to the limited extent that it suggested automatic penalty under Section 43(2), and the legal position was clarified as discretionary rather than mandatory under that provision. en-us Mon, 08 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0530 Thu, 25 May 2023 12:51:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=405696 Section 43(2) of the Orissa Value Added Tax Act, 2004 confers discretion on the assessing authority to impose penalty only where escapement or under-assessment is found to be without reasonable cause, because the provision uses the word "may". By contrast, Section 42(5) provides for a mandatory penalty equal to twice the tax assessed in an audit assessment and leaves no discretion. The earlier observation treating penalty as automatic was therefore recalled to the limited extent that it suggested automatic penalty under Section 43(2), and the legal position was clarified as discretionary rather than mandatory under that provision. Case-Laws VAT and Sales Tax Mon, 08 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=405696