29. Imposition of penalty for failure to get registered

(1) If a dealer, who is required by sub-section (1) of section 26 to get himself registered within two months from the date from which he is first liable to pay tax under section 9, section 10, section 12 section 15 or section 18B, as the case may be, fails to get himself so registered, the prescribed authority may, after giving the dealer an opportunity of being heard, by order impose by way of penalty a sum, not less than five hundred rupees and not exceeding one thousand rupees, for each month of default.

PROVIDED that no penalty shall be imposed under this sub-section on any dealer where such dealer makes application for registration to the prescribed authority in the manner referred to in sub-section (2) of section 26 and the rules made thereunder on or before the 30th day of September, 1998, and gets himself registered :

PROVIDED FURTHER that no penalty shall be imposed under this sub-section in respect of the same fact for which a prosecution under sub-section (2) of section 88 has been instituted and no such prosecution shall lie in respect of a fact for which a penalty has been imposed under this section.

(2) If any penalty is imposed under sub-section (1), the prescribed authority shall issue a notice in the prescribed form directing the dealer to pay such penalty by such date as may be specified in the notice, and the date to be specified shall not be less than fifteen days from the date of service of such notice and the penalty so imposed shall be paid by the dealer into a Government Treasury or the Reserve Bank of India by the date so specified:

PROVIDED that the prescribed authority may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the date of such payment as specified in the notice in this behalf or allow such dealer to pay the penalty imposed in such number of installments as he may determine.

(3) Any amount of penalty that remains unpaid after the date specified in the notice referred to in sub-section (2) shall be recoverable in accordance with the provisions of section 52.