1978 (10) TMI 138

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....d by SINGH, C.J.-This is a reference made by the Sales Tax Tribunal under section 44 of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, referring for our answer the following questions of law: "(1) Whether, in the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in holding that within the meaning of section 43(1) of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, the assessee had delibe....

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....m payment of tax in respect of sales to electrical undertakings. Sales to electrical undertakings were exempt from tax under section 2(j)(a) of the C.P. and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947. The M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, came into force from 1st April, 1959. There is no such exemption provided in the Madhya Pradesh Act. The penalty of Rs. 8,000 was imposed on the assessee on the ground that it....

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....of the Tribunal that the assessee knew that the claim for exemption from tax in respect of sales to electrical undertakings made by it in the returns was not tenable, is not justified. We are not inclined to go into this question because it is essentially a question of fact. On the material placed before it, the Tribunal was justified in drawing the conclusion that the assessee knew that it was no....

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.... a false return within the meaning of section 43(1), even if the assessee knew that the plea of exemption was not sustainable. A return will be a false return when some statement of fact in the return is falsely made. But when the facts are fully and correctly disclosed, raising of a false legal plea cannot make the return false. The assessing authority can, in such cases, easily assess the correc....