1991 (2) TMI 2

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.... Appellate Tribunal 'B' (Bench Allahabad) by its order dated October 18, 1975, held that, in the facts and circumstances of the case, it cannot be said that the assessee could not have been under a bona fide belief that its income was below the taxable limit and that it was under no obligation to file a return of its income voluntarily. In taking the aforesaid view, the Tribunal held that penalty ....

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....demonstrate that the proceedings by way of penalty under section 271(1)(a) of the Act are quasi-criminal in nature and that, therefore, the element of mens rea is a mandatory requirement before a penalty can be imposed under section 271(1) (a). We are relieved of the necessity of referring to all those decisions. Indeed, many of them were considered by the High Court and are referred to in the jud....

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....he nature of the penalty, which is punitive, no sentence can be imposed under that provision unless the element of mens rea is established. In most cases of criminal liability, the intention of the Legislature is that the penalty should serve as a deterrent. The creation of an offence by statute proceeds on the assumption that society suffers injury by the act or omission of the defaulter and that....

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....supported by the statement in Corpus Juris Secundum, Volume 85, page 580, paragraph 1023: 'A penalty imposed for a tax delinquency is a civil obligation, remedial and coercive in its nature, and is far different from the penalty for crime or a fine or forfeiture provided as punishment for the violation of criminal or penal laws.' Accordingly, we hold that the element of mens rea was not requ....