9911796707
TMI Blog1961 (7) TMI 56X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of 1961 relates to the assessment year 1954-55 and Special Appeal No. 2 of 1961 relates to the assessment year 1955-56. For the assessment year 1954-55, the assessee returned a gross turnover of Rs. 3,10,96127-15-2 and a net turnover of Rs. 1,35,28,841-14-0 claiming exemption on a turnover of Rs. 1,75,67,286-1-2 on the ground that this represents sales of interState character. Similarly, for the assessment year 1955-56 the assessee returned a gross turnover of Rs. 3,15,79,573-8-11 and a net turnover of Rs. 1,98,39,936-13-3 claiming exemption on a turnover of Rs. 1,17,39,636-11-8 on the ground that this represents sales of interState character. The Commercial Tax Officer allowed the exemptions in the view that the turnovers in question cons ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r. The provision which empowers the Commissioner to revise the order of any officer subordinate to him is contained is section 15 and it runs as follows: "(1) The Commissioner may in his discretion call for and examine the record of any order passed or proceeding taken (under the provisions of this Act by any authority, officer or person subordinate to him and against which no appeal has been preferred to the Tribunal under section 15-A) for the purpose of satisfying himself with regard to the legality or propriety of such order or with regard to the regularity of such proceedings and may pass such order in reference thereto as he thinks fit. (2) The powers conferred by sub-section (1) may be exercised by the Commissioner suo motu at any ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he considers necessary. (2) If for any reason any tax or licence fee has been assessed at too low a rate in any year, the assessing authority or the licensing authority, as the case may be, may, at any time within the year or the three years next succeeding that to which the tax or licence fee relates revise the assessment or the licence fee after issuing a notice to the dealer or licensee and after making such enquiry as he considers necessary." What he urges is that the authority exercised under rule 32 is a kind of revisional jurisdiction. That rule prescribes a period of three years for taking action in regard to escaped assessment or assessment at too low a rate. The Legislature should have contemplated a similar period of limitation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erred to us advance the appellant's case. All that is stated in that passage is that interpretation is of two kinds, which may be distinguished as literal and free and that the interpretation which accords with the intention of the legislature should be adopted by Court. The passage relied on is as follows: "The duty of the judicature is to discover and to act upon the true intention of the legislatures-the mens or sententia legis. The essence of the law lies in its spirit, not in its letter, for the letter is significant only as being the external manifestation of the intention that underlies it." It is true that if two interpretations are possible, the one that would be in consonance with the object of the legislation should be accepte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hich does not prescribe any period of limitation as denoting a definite period of limitation. The phrase "at any time" occuring in section 15(2) is an expression of definite import and is not susceptible of the meaning "within a given time." It denotes an indefinite period. There is nothing vague or indefinite about its connotation. Further, the argument of Sri Rangacharya that we should read a period of limitation on the basis of rule 32 cannot stand the test of scrutiny for the reason that at the time when the Legislature enacted section 15, it could not have had in contemplation rule 32, which came to be framed after the Act was passed. It should also be remembered that this rule was not made by the Legislature but by the executive in e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... repealed by the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, which was the enactment in force at the time when the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes had recourse to section 15(2) of the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act, it is the period of limitation that is prescribed in section 20 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act that should apply to the present case. We do not think that we can accede to this proposition. It should be remembered that the assessment was made under the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act and, therefore, it is only the revisional jurisdiction derived under that Act that should be exercised by the Commissioner. Even otherwise, we are unable to give effect to this argument because the four years' period contemplated by s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
