VAT Appeal No.15 of 2008 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. VAT Appeal No.15 of 2008 Date of decision: 25.8.2008 M/s Synergy Textiles -----Appellant v. the state of Punjab and another -----Respondents. CORAM:- HON'BLE MR JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL HON'BLE MR JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI Present:- Mr. K.L.Goyal, Advocate for the appellant. ---- JUDGMENT: 1. The assessee has preferred this appeal under Section 68 of the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (in short, ‘the Act’) against the order dated 15.11.2007, Annexure A-3 passed by the Tribunal in Appeal No.6(VAT) of 2007-08. 2. Substantial questions of law in the memo of appeal proposed are as under:- “i) Whether the learned Tribunal is justified in remanding the case to Designated Officer for reconsideration of calculation of interest and levy of penalty despite the fact that proceedings itself were void in the absence of show cause notice? ii) Whether the learned Tribunal is justified in giving directions to the Designated Officer to issue 1 VAT Appeal No.15 of 2008 show cause notice for the imposition of penalty and the interest even though no such notice had earlier been issued?” 3. Facts noticed in the impugned order of the Tribunal are that the assessee failed to file return for the second quarter and delayed the deposit of tax. The tax was deposited on 27.12.2005 instead of 30.10.2005. The designated authority proposed penalty of Rs.1,46,766/- under section 53 of the Act and also levied interest of Rs.7800/- under section 54 of the Act vide order dated 19.1.1996. The assessee preferred an appeal to the appellate authority on the ground that no show cause notice was issued and thus, he did not have the opportunity to show that he was prevented by sufficient cause in filing the return. Time period of penalty and interest had been wrongly calculated. 4. The appellate authority observed that late payment of tax and quantum of tax were not disputed and remanded the matter to the Designated authority for recalculation of penalty and interest after hearing the appellant on delay period. The assessee, thereafter, filed an application under section 62(2) of the Punjab VAT Act, 2005 to the Tribunal. The Tribunal directed the Designated Officer to issue show cause notice giving reasons for proposed action and pass a speaking order after hearing the assessee. 2 VAT Appeal No.15 of 2008 5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties. 6. From the impugned order, it is clear that the matter has been remanded for giving an opportunity to the assessee. 7. Only contention raised by the learned counsel for the assessee is that the assessee may not be able to show that it is not liable to pay penalty at all as one of the observations is that calculation of interest and levy is to be reconsidered. 8. We do not find any warrant for this submission of the assessee. The issue of liability for interest and penalty is at large before the designated officer who has to take a decision in the said matter, after giving hearing to the petitioner. 9. No substantial question of law is, thus, involved. 10. The appeal is dismissed. (Adarsh Kumar Goel) Judge August 25, 2008 (Ajay Tewari) ‘gs’ Judge 3