Procedure to maintain records, through electronic data system etc.

(1) For the purpose of effective implementation of the provisions of this Act, the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules made and directions issued thereunder, relating to procedure shall apply mutatis mutandis. (2) Where any notice, communication or intimation is prepared on any automated data processing system and is properly served on any dealer or person, the said notice, communication or intimation shall not be required to be personally signed by any officer or person and the said notice, communication or intimation shall not be deemed to be invalid on the ground that it is not personally signed by such officer or person. (3) Any person or dealer who makes an on-line application under any of the provisions of this Act shall be required to make such application under his digital signature: Provided that where such application is filed without affixing digital signature, the said person or dealer, as the case may be, shall be required to submit to the appropriate authority, a duly signed hard copy of such electronically made application as printed from the official website of the Excise and Taxation Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh, within seven days of making an on-line application, failing which the application so made shall be rejected without any further notice. (4) The dealer who files return(s) alongwith the requisite enclosures electronically, shall authenticate the same by affixing his digital signature: Provided that where such return(s) is filed without affixing digital signature, the said dealer shall be required to submit to the appropriate authority, duly signed hard copy of such electronically filed return(s) duly printed from the official website of the Excise and Taxation Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh, within fifteen days of the last date for filling of such return(s). If such dealer fails to do so, he shall be liable to pay by way of penalty a sum not exceeding Rs. 5,000.