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

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

The respondents are dealers in rice mill spare parts and accessories. They were registered under the Central Sales Tax Act. During the verification of the accounts by the assessing authority, it transpired that the assessees had purchased oil engine spares from outside the State on concessional rate of tax by issuing "C" forms during the assessment years 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1978-79 and 1979-80. The assessing authority was of the opinion that the registration certificate issued to the assessees did not enable them to issue "C" form certificates to purchase from outside the State at concessional rate of tax "oil engine spares" and, therefore the issue of "C" form certificate by the assessees was based on a false representation that they were entitled to purchase oil engine spares also on the basis of the registration certificate issued to them. The assessing authority invoked the provisions of section10A of the Central Sales Tax Act, and after following the procedure prescribed by law, levied penalty, holding that the assessees had committed an offence under section10(b) of the Act. The assessees went up in appeal before the appellate authority who confirmed the penalty, but reduced the same and refixed it. The assessees filed a second appeal before the Tribunal. The Tribunal took the view that though the registration certificate of the assessees did not authorise them to issue "C" forms for purchase of "oil engine spares", yet the assessees had acted under a bona fide impression that oil engine spares also would come within the class of goods mentioned in the registration certificate, and therefore, they were not liable to be penalised under section10A of the Act. The Tribunal opined that there was no mens rea established and that the representation made by the assessees was under a bona fide belief that the goods would be covered by the registration certificate. Consequently, the penalty imposed in respect of all the five cases was set aside. The Revenue is in revision before us.

2. Since the five appeals relating to the assessment years 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1978-79 and 1979-80 had been consolidated by the appellate authority and disposed of by a common order, and the same course was adopted by the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, for the sake of convenience we also dispose of them by a common order as common points of law and fact are involved.

3. The fact that the registration certificate of the assessees issued in form "B" authorises them to purchase for resale "rice mill spare parts and accessories" is not only borne out from the orders of the authorities, but is also patent from the record which has been produced before us by the Revenue. In the face of these patent facts, learned counsel for the assessees-respondents was unable to show that the "oil engine spares" are also used in rice mills which are run on oil engines and the assessees were under a bona fide impression that they could purchaser oil engine spares also from outside the State by issue of "C" forms on the basis of their registration certificate. A similar plea has been raised on behalf of the assessees before the assessing authority as well as before the appellate authority and had failed. The Tribunal, had however, accepted this plea, but in our opinion, it had fallen in error in doing so. The Tribunal failed to take notice of the fact that the assessees are dealer in "rice mill spare parts and accessories". The registration certificate, therefore, authorised them specifically to purchase "rice mill spare parts and accessories" for resale. "Oil engine spares" are admittedly a different commodity, known differently and distinctly in the commercial world. It is not the case of the assessees that the "oil engine spares" could be treated either as "accessories" or "spare parts" of rice mills. The Tribunal, it appears to us, was influenced by the use of the expression "falsely represent" in section10(b) of the Central S