88. Offences and penalties

(1) Whoever-

shall be punishable with simple imprisonment which may extend to six months or with fine not exceeding one thousand rupees or with both and, a court having jurisdiction may, in addition to any fine as aforesaid, order confiscation of any goods seized under section 70 for the offence of contravention of section 68.

(2) Whoever carries on business as a dealer in contravention of sub-section (1) of section 26 shall be punishable with simple imprisonment which may extend to one year or with fine not exceeding one thousand rupees or with both, and when the offence is a continuing one, with a daily fine not exceeding one hundred rupees during the period of the continuance of the offence.

(2A) Whoever, being a transporter, carrier or transporting agent, operates in contravention of section 29A his transport business in West Bengal of transporting any consignment of taxable goods in to, or outside or within, West Bengal without obtaining a certificate of enrolment, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment which may extend to six months or with fine not exceeding one thousand rupees or with both, and when the offence is a continuing one, with a daily fine not exceeding one hundred rupees during the period of continuance of the offence.

(3) Whoever, being a registered dealer, falsely represents while purchasing any class of goods that the goods of such class are covered by his certificate of registration or, not being a registered dealer, falsely represents while purchasing goods that he is a registered dealer, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description which may extend to six months or with fine not exceeding one thousand rupees or with both, and when the offence is a continuing one, with a daily fine not exceeding one hundred rupees during the period of the continuance of the offence.

(3A) Whoever, being a transporter, carrier or transporting agent, fails or neglects to comply with the provisions of section 62A, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment which may extend to six months or with fine not exceeding one thousand rupees or with both, and when the offence is a continuing one, with a daily fine not exceeding one hundred rupees during the period of continuance of the offence.

(4) Whoever-

shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to two years and with fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or with both, and when the offence is a continuing one, with a daily fine, not exceeding fifty rupees, during the period of the continuance of the offence.

(5) Whoever has in his possession any prescribed form referred to in the first proviso, or the second proviso, to sub-section (2), or the proviso to sub-clause (ii), or sub-clause (vii), of clause (a), of sub-section (3), of section 17 or in the proviso to sub-section (4) of section 17A, not obtained by him or by his principal or agent in accordance with the provisions of this Act or any rules made thereunder, shall be deemed to have committed the offence of criminal breach of trust under section 405 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) and every such person which commit such criminal breach of trust, shall, on conviction, be punishable with imprisonment of either description which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to three years or with fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or with both.

(7) Whoever knowingly produces incorrect accounts, registers or documents, or knowingly furnishes incorrect information or suppresses material information shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to two years or with fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or with both.

(8) Whoever obstructs any officer making inspection or search or seizure or taking other actions under section 62A, section 65, section 66, section 67, section 69, section 70, section 72 or section 73 shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to two years or with fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or both.

(8A) Whoever realises any amount of additional sales tax referred to in section 18A in contravention of the provisions thereof shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to one year or with fine not exceeding five thousand rupees or with both.

(9) Whoever abets any of the offences mentioned in sub-section (2), sub-section (2A), sub-section (3), sub-section (3A), sub-section (5), sub-section (6) or sub-section (7) shall, if the act of offence is committed in, consequence of the abatement, be punishable with the same punishment as provided for the offence.

(10) Any offence punishable under sub-section (1), sub-section (2), sub-section (2A), sub-section (3), sub-section (3A), sub-section (4), or sub-section (9), shall be cognizable and bailable while that punishable under sub-section (5), sub-section (6), sub-section (7), sub-section (8) or sub-section (8A) shall be cognizable and non-bailable.

(11) In any prosecution for an offence under this Act which requires a culpable mental state on the part of the accused, the court shall presume the existence of such culpable mental state until the contrary is proved.

EXPLANATION 1.- In this sub-section, "culpable mental state" includes intention, motive, knowledge of a fact, or belief in, or reason to believe, a fact.

EXPLANATION 2.- If any of the offences under sub-section (2), sub-section (3) or clause (c) of sub-section (4) continues, such offence shall be deemed to be a continuing offence.

(12) No court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder except with the previous sanction of the Commissioner, and no court inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate shall try such offence.

(13) No prosecution for any offence enumerated hereinbefore in this section shall be instituted in respect of the same facts for which a penalty has been imposed under sub-section (1) of section 77 or sub-section (1) of section 78 and no such penalty shall be imposed vice versa.