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TMI Blog1969 (2) TMI 167X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eptember 27, 1961. He stated that certain purchases and sales made by the assessee during the years 1957-58 and 1958-59 had come to his notice and required verification. The notice warned that in case the assessee failed to appear it would be presumed that all sales and purchases effected by it had not been entered in its books and accordingly action under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act would be taken. The assessee did not produce its account books. Subsequently on March 13, 1962, the Sales Tax Officer issued another notice. This was in the form of a memorandum. It pointed out that the turnover assessed for the year 1955-56 was Rs. 58,18, 426 and the turnover disclosed for the year 1958-59 by the assessee itself in its account books w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inst the assessment order was dismissed. The assessee applied in revision and contended that there was no material on which the Sales Tax Officer could have reason to believe that turnover had escaped assessment and, therefore, the proceedings initiated under section 21 of the Act were without jurisdiction. It also urged that the notice issued on September 13, 1961, was a notice under section 21 and as the assessment order was made on March 19, 1963, it was barred by limitation. The judge (Revisions) referred to the circumstance that the Government had fixed the quota for 1958-59 on the basis of the average annual consumption and purchase of wheat by the assessee during the preceding three years and when the assessee itself had disclosed a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 0. This contrasted with the figure of Rs. 46,00,000 at which the turnover for the year 1957-58 had been assessed. This was the principal factor which persuaded the Sales Tax Officer to believe that turnover had escaped assessment for the year 1957-58. We are not satisfied that this circumstance alone is sufficient for inferring that the turnover had been under-assessed. There must be material clearly leading to that inference. It seems to us that the difference in the assessed turnovers of the various assessment years could form the basis of a suspicion-and perhaps even a profound suspicion that the turnover had been under-assessed, but suspicion alone cannot form the basis for initiating a proceeding under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Ta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the assessee for the year 1958-59 was fixed as an average of the consumption and purchase of wheat by the assessee for the preceding three years. The average of the figures of the preceding three years, however, does not mean that the actual figures were uniformly the same for the three years. It may have been that the figures for the first two years were much higher than the average while figures for the third year 1957-58 were correspondingly lower. Upon these considerations, we are unable to hold that the assessing officer could be said to have had reason to believe that the turnover had been under-assessed, and accordingly we answer the first question in the negative. There has been considerable argument on the question whether th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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