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TMI Blog1988 (1) TMI 346X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he authorities under the Sales Tax Act from "claiming" that the plaintiffs are the joint family members or that they did any business as members of the Hindu joint family. M/s. Ramakrishna Co., and M/s. Murali Krishna Co., are two proprietary concerns. They were registered as dealers under section 12 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, with Rama Rao, son of Krishna Rao and Murali Krishna, son of Krishna Rao as the sole proprietors, respectively. For the years 1971-72, 1972-73 and 1973-74 the sales tax authorities issued notices for making assessments. There was no response and during their enquiry, defendants I to 3 came to know that there are no persons by the names of Rama Rao and Murali Krishna and they are fictitiou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ot liable to pay any amount towards sales tax. Along with the plaint they filed an application for temporary injunction restraining the respondents from recovering any tax from them. The trial court dismissed the application. The plaintiffs carried the matter in appeal C.M.A. No. 327 of 1979 out of which this appeal arises. Before the learned single Judge the question of maintainability of the suit carried large and on the request of the plaintiffsappellants to determine it as a preliminary issue, the learned single Judge held that the suit is not maintainable in view of section 36 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act. Aggrieved thereby, the plaintiffs have now come up in appeal. In the first instance we thought that since the C. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... under this Act or any rules made thereunder, or in respect of any other matter falling within its or his scope." It is seen from this section that no suit can be filed to set aside not only an assessment or order, but also any decision made or passed by any officer under the Act and also in respect of any other matter falling within his scope. The Sales Tax Act is designed for levy and collection of sales tax on the turnover of business made by dealers. Section 2(e) defines a "dealer" as any person who carries on the business of buying, selling, supplying or distributing goods and includes a local authority, a company, a Hindu undivided family or any society, etc. Thus a Hindu undivided family can also be a dealer and it is a taxable e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessing authority may, after issuing a notice to the dealer, and after making such enquiry as he may consider necessary, by order, setting out the grounds thereof- (a) determine to the best of his judgment the turnover that has escaped assessment and assess the turnover so determined (b).................... (c).................... (cc).................... (d).................... (e) levy the registration fee that has escaped levy; (f).................... In addition to the tax assessed or fee levied under this sub-section, the assessing authority may also direct the dealer to pay a penalty as specified in sub-section (8)." Under clause (4) of section 14 if the authorities are of the opinion that the turnover of a dealer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... equires that assessment can be made only after issuing notice to the parties. It is not the case of the petitioners that no notice was issued to the plaintiffs before making the assessment. The other submission of Mr. Vilas V. Afzal Purkar is that the authorities are precluded from determining the status of the party, namely, whether he is a member of the joint family and as such it is not a matter within the province of the sales tax authorities and section 36 is, therefore, not a bar. This argument ignores the definition of a "dealer" which includes a Hindu undivided family. For the purpose of assessment the authorities will have to necessarily make an enquiry who the dealer is. A Hindu undivided family is a taxable entity as per sectio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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