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TMI Blog1973 (1) TMI 81X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e the authorities constituted under the Act. It is true as contended by Mr. Gupte that these decisions were rendered long after 1962, but the fact remains that the decisions in question merely interpret what the law is. - C.A. Nos. 2300, 2301, 2302 of 1969, & 14, 15 of 1970, S.T.R. No. 574 of 1963, Special Appeal No. 330 of 1963, - - - Dated:- 22-1-1973 - HEGDE K.S., JAGANMOHAN REDDY P. AND KHANNA H.R. JJ. N.D. Karkhanis, Senior Advocate (O.P. Rana, Advocate, with him), for the respondent. S.V. Gupte, Senior Advocate (K.L. Arora, S.K. Bagga and Mrs. S. Bagga, Advocates, with him), for the appellant. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment of the court was delivered by HEGDE, J.- The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessee did not take advantage of those opportunities. The case was finally posted for hearing on 24th March, 1962. That day the assessee was absent; but it made an application for adjournment of the case by 15 days. That adjournment was not granted and it could not have been granted because the assessment would have been barred by the end of the financial year 1961-62. Hence the assessing authority, on the basis of its best judgment, determined the turnover of the assessee at Rs. 58,06,132.30 and determined its tax liability at Rs. 3,62,691.62 under section 3-A of the Act. Against the order of assessment the assessee filed an appeal within 30 days from the date of the order of assessment. At the time of filing the appeal the assessee d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3-A was ultra vires the powers granted to the Government. In order to appreciate the contentions advanced, it is necessary to refer to certain provisions of the Act. Section 3(1) of the Act provides: "Subject to the provisions of this Act, every dealer shall, for each assessment year, pay a tax at the rate of three pies per rupee on his turnover of such year, which shall be determined in such manner as may be prescribed." (Remaining portion of the provision is not relevant for our purpose.) Section 3-A(I) reads thus: "Notwithstanding anything contained in section 3, the State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette. declare that the turnover in respect of any goods or class of goods shall not be liable to tax excep ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rn a cheque for the amount so calculated." (Proviso is not relevant for our present purpose.) Having referred to the material provisions in the Act and the Rules, let us now turn back to the contentions advanced before us. We shall take up the last two contentions first, namely, that the assessee, who is an importer, not being one of the "successive dealers" could not have been brought to tax under section 3-A and, as such, the notification issued by the Government under section 3-A bringing to tax the import of vanaspati made by the assessee from Indore under section 3-A, is ultra vires. It may be noted that section 3 is the general provision. It provides for multi-point tax. To this general rule certain exceptions are provided. One of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y Mr. Gupte, we find there are several difficulties in the way of accepting the same. As mentioned earlier the assessee in his return has shown what its turnover was and at what rate the tax is payable by it. It had admitted before the assessing authority what its turnover was. Further it had also admitted before that authority that it was liable to pay tax at the rate of one anna per rupee on its turnover which comes to Rs. 10,339.19. It had also admitted before the same authority that it had collected that amount from its purchasers. It did not dispute before the assessing authority the validity of the notification issued under section 3-A. Under rule 41(2) read with rule 12 it was bound to submit quarterly returns. We take it that it mus ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessee has to do is not to admit his liability in the memorandum of appeal, whatever his stand might have been before the assessing authority. Ordinarily no interpretation should be placed on a provision which would have the effect of making the provision either otiose or a dead letter. Further, to find out the true meaning of the expression "tax admitted" we must take into consideration the remaining words of the proviso, namely, "or such instalments thereof as may become payable---. Those words furnish a key to the interpretation. If one of the conditions for maintainability of the appeal is payment of the instalments which have become payable under rule 41(2), it means that the admission that has got to be taken into consideration is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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