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TMI Blog1952 (8) TMI 19X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 15 and 16 of that Act. According to the prosecution, under Section 22 of the Act no assess- ment made under it shall be called in question in any Court save as pro- vided in Sections 14 to 16 of the Act. It has however to be noticed at this stage that Section 6 of the Act makes it clear that the Government may by notification in the Official Gazette make an exception, or reduction in rate in respect of any tax payable under the Act. It is not disputed that 'Hurigadale' is exempted from the levy of sales tax. It is argued that this is however a point which should have been taken up in an appeal against the order of the Sales Tax Officer and as the petitioner has failed to do so he is prevented by Section 22 of the Act from raising the que ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cer could ascertain whether the assessee is a person liable to pay tax, whether his turnover is Rs. 10,000 and whether he is dealing in a commodity which is not exempt from sales tax. If he makes a mistake in respect of these facts an appeal can be filed and if the appellant is not satisfied with the result of the appeal, he can file a revision petition against that decision under Section 15 of the Act. He can also have recourse to Section 16. But he cannot question the correctness of the finding in any civil or criminal Court as the order is passed under the Sales Tax Act. This however does not mean that if, on the finding of the Sales Tax Officer, it cannot be said that the person is liable to pay sales tax or that the commodity with wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... troller is a special tribunal created by the statute for a specific purpose. It can only act within the limits of the powers conferred by the statute. If the said limits are exceeded or are not con- formed to, the decision of the tribunal is liable to be challenged by an action in a civil Court." There is hardly any doubt that the same principles apply to the special Tribunal created under the Sales Tax Act. So long as the decision (1) 52 Mys. H.C.R. 455. is within the limits of the Act, it cannot be challenged in any civil or criminal Court. But for instance if the Sales Tax Officer assesses a person who, according to the Sales Tax Act is not a dealer as in the case of a Lawyer, it cannot be said that its validity or the liability under ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... could be easy to cite a number of authorities on the point, but it would be sufficient for the purpose of the case to quote from the summary of decisions given in the Commentary on Indian Income-tax Act by A.C. Sampath Iyengar (3rd Edition) in dealing with Section 67: Next, the prohibition applies only when the assessment is one made under this Act. No assessment can be said to be made 'under the Act' if it is ultra vires or in excess of jurisdiction. A manifest defect of jurisdiction may be founded on the character and constitution of the assessing authority or on the nature of the subject matter of the enquiry, or on the absence of some preliminary proceeding necessary to give juris- diction to the authority. Thus for instance, if an Inco ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Tribunal to conclusively decide whether that state of facts exists: and if it should exercise the jurisdiction without the existence of such facts, its decision might be questioned in a court of law. But the Legislature may do another thing. It may entrust the Tribunal with a jurisdiction which includes the jurisdiction to determine whether the preliminary state of facts exists, as well as the jurisdiction to proceed further and do something more on finding such state of facts to exist. In this latter event, it is erroneous to say that the Tribunal cannot give itself jurisdiction by wrongly deciding the facts. The Legislature having given the Tribunal jurisdiction to determine all the facts, including the preliminary facts, its decis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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