Comparison of section 451 'Penalty for failure to comply with provisions of section 186.' between the Income-Tax Act, 2025 (as passed) and the Income-Tax Bill, 2025 (as originally introduced)

Removal of statutory defence in section 451 raises penalty risk, shifts burden, increases litigation and documentation needs

Section 451 imposes a penalty equal to the amount received in breach of section 186; the originally introduced Bill expressly allowed avoidance of the penalty if the recipient proved 'good and sufficient reasons,' whereas the enacted Act omits that proviso. The Bill placed an evidential burden on the recipient to establish reasons to escape penalty; the Act's silence removes the explicit statutory defence and creates uncertainty whether any discretionary or common-law safeguards apply. Practically, the change increases enforcement and litigation risk, heightens the need for contemporaneous documentation, and leaves standards for assessing any justificatory reasons undefined.