Mens rea is not an essential ingredient for the offence under section 10(b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. The making of a false representation is the sine qua non for invoking the provisions of section 10(b) of the Act.

DR. A. S. ANAND, C.J.

Aggrieved by the order of the Joint Commissioner, dated June 2, 1981, passed in suo motu revision of the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Salem, the assessee has come up in appeal.

2. The appellant, M/s. Vijaya Electricals, Attur, is a registered dealer under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). Central sales tax registration certificate No. 6331 held by the applicant, permitted it to purchase machinery and electrical goods for resale from other States under section 8(4) of the Act. The assessing authority, the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, checked the accounts of the assessee for the years 1977-78 and 1978-79, wherein it was revealed that the assessee had effected purchase of following goods by issue of C forms :

Rs.

Ball-bearings 2, 30, 758.90

Rubber beltings 10, 475.26

Buckets and pipe fittings 50, 102.98

Huller parts 9, 544.74

3, 00, 881.88

The assessing authority found that the purchase of the aforesaid goods on the basis of C forms, had been made by the assessee by false representation to the effect that the goods in question were covered by the registration certificate when they were not so covered. The assessing authority, therefore, opined that the dealer had committed an offense under section 10(b) of the Act. It was proposed to levy a penalty of Rs. 45, 132 under section 10A of the Act, calculated at one and a half times the tax due, at 10 per cent on the aforesaid purchases. The assessee was consequently called upon to file its objections to the proposed levy of penalty. The assessee, after obtaining extension of time to file objections, filed the same on September 14, 1979. In its objections, the assessee first stated that the value of different commodities, as given in the notice, was wrong. The assessing authority, however, found that the figures which had been arrived at in the notice - relating to the proposed levy of penalty was on the basis of the accounts maintained by the assessee and with reference to form 8 register maintained by it. The objection regarding the alleged incorrect figures of purchase was accordingly turned down.

3. The next objection of the assessee was that since it had not misused C form, penalty proceedings were not called for. According to the assessee, it bona fide believed that the machinery which had been specified in the registration certificate included the working parts of machines and that the goods, viz., ball-bearings, rubber beltings, pipe fittings, huller parts, etc., fell within the category of parts of the machinery and that the same could be bought by giving the C forms. It was, therefore, stated by the assessee that it had not made any false representation. This objection also did not find favour with the assessing authority. It was found that ball-bearings, buckets and pipe fittings and huller parts could not be construed to fall under the general head of "machinery". The assessing authority, on the basis of the material on record found that the assessee had made a false representation and thereby committed an offense under section 10(b) of the Act. The last plea of the assessee with regard to the levy of penalty at the concessional rate of 4 per cent and not at the penal rate of 10 per cent also did not find favour with the assessing authority. It was, therefore, held that the tax livable under section 8(2) of the Act was Rs. 30, 088 at 10 per cent and consequently, the penalty at one and a half times the tax due, amounting to Rs. 45, 132 was levied. Aggrieved by the order of the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, the assessee disputed the entire levy before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, the appellate authority. It appears from the proceedings before the appellate authority that besides "ball-bearings, rubber beltings, buckets and pipe fittings and huller parts", the dealer had also purchased other goods like wrenches, spanners, grease, etc., under the cover of C forms. The total value of the