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TMI Blog1957 (12) TMI 17X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... evade payment of sales tax. The accused was then sitting at the counter and was looking after the business of the shop. On seeing P.W. 1 entering the shop, the accused suddenly removed a pocket notebook that was kept on the table in the shop and placed it in his own pocket. P.W. I made repeated demands for surrender of that book for his inspection on the basis that it was one of the books kept in the shop in the ordinary course of the business transacted therein. The accused stoutly refused to surrender the book on the pretext that it contained his private accounts. The notice issued by P.W. 1 in his official capacity as Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, calling upon the accused to produce the book in question was also disobeyed by the accuse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... section 14 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act. Section 14 of the Act runs as follows: "(1) Any officer empowered by the State Government in this behalf may, for the purposes of this Act, require any dealer carrying on business in any kind of goods to produce before him the accounts and other documents, and to furnish any other information relating to such business. (2) All accounts and registers maintained by dealers in the ordinary course of their business, the goods in their possession and their offices, shops, godowns, vessels or vehicles shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by such officers as may be authorised in this behalf. (3) Any such officer shall have power to enter, for the purpose referred to in sub-section (2) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the First Class be liable to a fine which may extend to Rs. 1,000. It is significant to note that the wording of clause (c) of section 15 is different from the wording of section 186 of the Penal Code. To constitute an offence punishable under section 186 of the Penal Code, the prosecution has to make out that the accused voluntarily obstructed a public servant in the discharge of his public functions. But the rigour of this section has been considerably diluted and even taken away by the corresponding provision in clause (c) of section 15 of the Sales Tax Act. To attract this clause it is sufficient that an officer authorised under section 14 has been prevented or obstructed from entering the shop and conducting the inspection contempla ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he book related to the business carried on in the shop. This is the extreme position taken up on behalf of the accused. This position is untenable on the face of it, because section 14 of the General Sales Tax Act expressly authorises officers like P.W.1 to require any dealer carrying on business in any kind of goods, to produce before them the accounts and other documents relating to such business. It is next urged on behalf of the accused that this authority will not enable the officer to demand the production for his examination of the accounts relating to the private business of the dealer. The decision in Venkateswara Rao, In re(1), is also cited as authority in support of the position. The view taken in that case appears to be that an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iness place that they also relate to the business by showing their contents to the inspecting officer and satisfying him that those records are unconnected with the business and that they relate only to his private affairs. To recognise a right in him to withhold all such records from the inspecting officer on the strength of his mere assertion that they relate to his private affairs and are in no way connected with the business in question, would be to defeat the purpose of section 14 and thus enable the dealer to withhold from the inspecting officer very valuable items of evidence useful in the detection of the tax evasive methods that may be adopted by the dealer. I do not see any justification to construe section 14 in such a manner. In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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