9911796707
TMI Blog1959 (8) TMI 39X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ". It is stated in the petition that this is the personal business of Saksena and was established in 1953. All these concerns carry on business in paper. In the petition it is stated that Gem & Co. was not concerned in the matter of sale of any goods, because all that it did was to obtain financial facilities for these two concerns. Even on the facts as stated in the petition, the entire case made out is complicated enough. It is said that Saksena used to hypothecate goods with banks in the name of the petitioner-firm, although the goods belonged to the other two concerns, but without there being any sale or purchase of goods. These complicated and disputed facts cannot obviously be gone into by me in this application. Fortunately, it is al ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at the taxable quantum is Rs. 50,000. Thus the taxable quantum having been reached on the 24th October, 1955, the tax became payable on the 24th December, 1955. According to section 7 of the said Act, a dealer is not permitted to carry on business under such circumstances without registration. In this particular case, the petitioner carried on business but did not register itself. The consequences that follow under the Act in such circumstances are to be found in section 11. The particular provision which applies to the facts of this case is sub-section (2) of section 11. The relevant part thereof is set out below: "(2) If upon information which has come into his possession, the Commissioner is satisfied that any dealer, who has been liabl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re to be produced at the said time and place the accounts and documents specified below for the purpose of such assessment together with any objection which you may wish to prefer and any evidence you may wish to adduce in respect thereof, and to show cause on that date and at that time why in addition to the amount of tax to be assessed on you for the period 24th December, 1955, to 31st December, 1915, a penalty not exceeding one and half times the amount should not be imposed on you under subsection (2) of section 11 of the said Act. In the event of your failure to comply with this notice, I shall assess under section II of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, to the best of my judgment without further reference to you." I have set o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to appear. Under the circumstances, the Commercial Tax Officer had to make what is called a " best judgment assessment ". This had to be done on the materials and records available to him. As I have stated above, certain books had been seized, and upon inspection thereof, the Commercial Tax Officer came to certain conclusions which were duly recorded. There can be no doubt whatsoever that the Commercial Tax Officer, in his assessment order, has referred to these records and particularly to his finding as recorded on the 6th March, 1958. In other words he relied on his previous finding that on the 24th October, 1955, the petitioner had reached the taxable quantum and that from 24th December, 1955, he was liable to pay sales tax and should ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 955, and therefore became liable to pay sales tax as and from the 24th December, 1955. Mr. Dutt has argued that in the assessment order, there is really no reference to the previous finding of the 6th March, 1958, and in any event, the Commercial Tax Officer was not entitled to make any such reference. I am unable to accept either of these arguments. There is a plain reference in the assessment order to his previous finding, which was made shortly after the books of accounts were seized, and on the materials before me I have no doubt whatsoever that the reference is to the endorsement dated the 6th March, 1958, which is being set out in the affidavit of Rabi Kiran Mukherjee in paragraph 4. The next question is whether the Commercial Tax Of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld have been best if in his assessment order he had repeated all that he had said before. On the other hand, it would certainly be a tiresome repetition, without any object. It was not as if such computations were to be checked or scrutinised in view of any objections advanced on behalf of the assessee. In such a case the computations might have to be re-checked or altered. Here, however, the assessee did not at all appear. Therefore, there were two alternatives before the Commercial Tax Officer, namely, either to repeat verbatim what he had said before, or alternatively to refer to it in his assessment order, so that any one wishing to verify it might do so by looking into the records. He has chosen to follow the second course. I am unable ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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