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TMI Blog2007 (9) TMI 390X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h as he is an officer under the control of Inspector-General of Police (Vigilance) and has no power to make assessment. Under notification dated May 14, 1997, the Commissioner delegated his powers and duties under section 16D of the Act to the Sales Tax Officers and Inspectors of Sales Tax Department. The said notification was issued under section 3(3) of the Act. The notifications issued indicate officers by designation who have been conferred with the powers of the Commissioner. By a cryptic order, the High Court See [2004] 120 STC 294 (Orissa) (Dutta Traders v. Sales Tax Officer) Tax Officers and to the Inspectors of Sales Tax appointed under section 3(3) of the Act. opined that since the Sales Tax Officer (Vigilance) had been functioning under the Inspector-General of Police (Vigilance), he was not competent to realise the amount and, therefore, the realisation of the aforestated amounts as tax and penalty was without jurisdiction and, accordingly, the order of the Additional Commissioner dated January 1, 2000 stood quashed. Against the said judgment, the Department has come to this court by way of civil appeal. Two questions arise for consideration in this civil appeal. Fir ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ies shall be exercised and discharged by the Sales Tax Officers and by the Inspectors of Sales Tax in the State of Orissa within their respective jurisdictions. Sd/- A.K.Samantaray Commissioner of Sales Tax, Orissa, Cuttack." Following the notification dated May 14, 1997, one more notification has also been issued on October 12, 1998 which indicates that the powers under section 16D of the Act have been delegated to officers, area-wise. The said notification gives an entire list of officers who are given powers, designation-wise and area-wise. Every department is entitled to have its own vigilance officers. In the present case, we find that the Sales Tax Officer appointed to search and seize is from the Sales Tax Department and he is a Sales Tax Officer (Vigilance) who has been given the power under section 16D of the Act not only to search and seize the documents but also to recover the amount on the spot. Therefore, on the first point, the High Court had erred in stating that the Sales Tax Officer (Vigilance) was not entitled to assess and recover the tax as he functioned under the Inspector-General of Police. Coming to the second question, formulated above, we fin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... om him, in any office, shop, warehouse, godown, vessel, boat, receptacle, vehicle or any other place, the Commissioner shall have the power to enter into and search such office, shop, godown, vessel, receptacle, vehicle or other place, as the case may be, and to examine the goods and inspect all records relating thereto and, in every such case, the transporter, bailee, owner or lessee of the warehouse or the person-in-charge of such goods and records shall give all facilities for such examination and inspection and shall produce the bills of sale or such other documents as may be required relating to the goods and give his name and address and the name and address of the transporter, bailee, owner or lessee of the warehouse or the person-in-charge of such goods and records, as the case may be. Explanation I.-For the purposes of this section- (i) 'transporter' means the owner or any person having possession or control of a goods vehicle, who transports on account of any other person for hire or on his own account, any goods from one place to another, and includes any person whose name is entered in the permit issued under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 as the holder thereof, the driv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r shall give the person affected an opportunity of being heard and make an enquiry in the prescribed manner: Provided further that where the person affected makes payment to the Commissioner the amount of tax at the appropriate rate payable in respect of such goods to be assessed in the prescribed manner with a penalty equivalent to twenty per centum of the value of the goods seized, the goods and the vehicle seized as aforesaid shall be released." It is well-settled that the concepts of chargeability, assessment, quantification and recovery of tax are independent concepts under any taxing law. Section 12 of the Act refers to assessment whereas provisions after section 15 of the said Act refer to recovery and collection of tax. The scheme of the Act, therefore, is based on the dichotomy between assessment on one hand and recovery of tax on the other hand. Under section 12, the assessing officer has to examine the returns. He may accept the returns. If he finds that the returns are not in order, subject to giving notice to the assessee, he is entitled to pass appropriate assessment orders. However, in cases falling under section 16D where evasion is detected at the check-post by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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