Tax Management India. Com
Law and Practice  :  Digital eBook
Research is most exciting & rewarding
  TMI - Tax Management India. Com
Follow us:
  Facebook   Twitter   Linkedin   Telegram

TMI Blog

Home

1976 (1) TMI 160

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... in respect of their assessment for the said period. The order of assessment, which was one composite order in respect of the entire period, was made on 27th April, 1954. Both in their returns and in the course of the assessment proceedings the respondents had claimed to deduct the turnover of certain sales from their gross turnover of sales. Some of the deductions so claimed were allowed by the Sales Tax Officer, while others were rejected. The only deductions with which we are concerned in this reference are the deductions under rule 1(ii)(a) of sub-section (3) of section 6 of the said Act. Under the said rule 1(ii)(a), a dealer is entitled to a deduction from his gross turnover in respect of all his sales or supplies of goods in respect of the period in question his turnover of all sales or supplies made during the said period to a registered dealer holding a licence under section 8B of goods certified by him as being intended for resale or for use as containers and other materials for the packing of goods to be sold or supplied by him. Rule 26(2) of the Bombay Sales Tax Rules, 1946, required that a dealer who wished to claim a deduction from his gross turnover under clause (i .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... the Sales Tax Officer that under the said rule 41-A they were not bound to preserve these documents for more than a period of three years after the expiry of the year to which these documents related, and since the assessment proceedings commenced when the notice of these proceedings was served upon them on 12th December, 1953, that is, after the lapse of the period prescribed by the said rule 41-A, their aforesaid claim for deduction could not be disallowed. This contention of the respondents was negatived by the Sales Tax Officer who, however, none the less, in view of the fact that the respondents had produced declarations for the period commencing from 1st April, 1950, granted to them 25 per cent of the total amount of the deductions claimed by them under the said rule I(ii)(a) to section 6(3). The respondents went in appeal to the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax urging the same contentions. Though the certificates along with the duplicates of the bills and cash memos were not produced, the Assistant Commissioner in appeal enhanced the amount of deduction allowed to the respondents though not to the full extent claimed by the respondents. The respondents filed a revisional .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... rule 56 of the said Rules, any person contravening any provision of the said Rules was punishable with fine which might extend to Rs. 1,000. Thus, it will be noticed that not preserving the required documents for the statutory period prescribed by section 12A(3) of the said Act and rule 41-A of the said Rules attracted penal consequences. If, however, a dealer did not preserve his documents after the expiry of the prescribed period, no such consequences could be visited upon him. From this, however, it does not follow that the said section 12A(3) or the said rule 41-A also casted a converse obligation upon the dealer concerned to destroy the documents which he till then was required to preserve. The statutory obligation upon the dealer was to preserve documents for the specified period. Thereafter it is left to his volition whether he should preserve them or not. If he did not preserve them and they became necessary for him as his evidence in support of any claim for exemption or deduction which he put forward in his assessment proceedings, he must face the consequences, which all litigants, who fail to produce evidence in court must face, namely, he must fail. In the case of clai .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... ld that the assessment proceedings started when a return was made or when a notice was issued to a dealer either under section 10(3) or section 11(2) of the C.P. and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947. The said sections 10(3) and 11(2) dealt with cases of a registered dealer failing to file his returns within the prescribed period and of a dealer who did not get himself registered under that Act, though he had become liable to do so and are not relevant, for, in the present reference, the respondents were registered as a dealer and had duly filed their returns. Thus, according to the said decision of the Supreme Court, so far as the respondents were concerned, the assessment proceedings commenced when they filed their returns. If the respondents after filing their returns and before the assessment proceedings were completed were so imprudent as to destroy the evidence, which they would require to produce in support of their claim for deduction, they had only to thank themselves if their claim was rejected. We must, however, make it clear that this would apply only to original assessment proceedings. A dealer should normally preserve even after the expiry of the statutory period his books an .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

 

 

 

 

Quick Updates:Latest Updates