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TMI Blog2002 (9) TMI 800X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iculars in form XXXI-A and shall be furnished to the assessing officer on or before the 31st day of October of the year succeeding the year to which it relates." 2.. The ground on which the challenge has been made may be enumerated as below: (1) The case of the writ petitioners is that the aforesaid provisions have been incorporated in pursuance to the representation made by the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Guwahati Branch, Guwahati, solely for the purpose of benefiting the members of the said association. It has got no nexus with the alleged objective which the State wanted to achieve. (2) Under the Act, the sales tax is payable on the taxable turnover of the dealer, whereas the audit has been made compulsory on the gross turnover. Under the provisions of the Act certain specified goods are exempted from the gross turnover of sales but section 10A encompasses everything. (3) Section 7(iv) of the Act provides that there will be no liability of tax in respect of sale or purchase taking place outside the State, in the course of inter-State trade and commerce or in the course of import or export of goods out of the country. However, section 10A of the Act includes sal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rtion that the dealers dealing in exempted goods or involved in inter-State trade or commerce are unnecessarily dragged in the network of audit. No tax have been levied on them by the above provisions of law and under the existing provisions these dealers are required to get themselves registered and submit their returns. Hence, they are not beyond the purview of the Act. 5.. We have heard Shri G.K. Joshi, Dr. A.K. Saraf, Dr. B.P. Todi, learned Senior Advocate, Mr. S.K. Kerjriwal, Mr. M.U. Mahmood, Mr. O.P. Bhati, learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. B.J. Talukdar, learned Government Advocate, Assam. 6.. In this batch of writ petitions, the petitioners have not challenged the legislative competence of the State of Assam in bringing in the above amendment. So far the allegation that the provisions were incorporated only at the request of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Guwahati Chapter, Guwahati, the same has been denied by the State although receipt of the representation as such is not disputed. Moreover, the provisions of statute or Act cannot be thrown out merely on the ground that the provisions were enacted on the representation of a particular group, associa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the registration of a dealer and submission of the returns of sales tax include these transactions in the dealer's turnover. Such inclusion, however, for the purposes aforesaid would not affect the non-liability of these transactions to levy or imposition of sales tax by virtue of the provisions of article 286 of the Constitution and the corresponding provision enacted in the Act, as above." 10.. Thus, it cannot be said that the provisions of the Act are limited or covers the dealers who are liable to pay tax only and the requirement of compulsory audit on the basis of gross turnover is alien to the provisions of the Act. The submission has got no basis. 11.. The learned counsel for the petitioners have referred to the following provisions/requirements in form XXXI-A as introduced by rule 19A clauses 5(e), (f), (g) and 7(b) and 8(b) of form XXXI-A which read as follows: "5. (e) total amount of CST collected during the year. (f) Total amount of CST paid during the year. (g) Whether there is any illegal collection, if so, whether the same has been remitted to the Government under appropriate heads of account (details to be given). 7.(b) Whether the auditor has come acr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to levy of tax under the Central Sales Tax Act. Some of the writ petitioners have admitted in their writ petition that they do submit return to the concerned tax officer of the State as regards their sale and purchase under the Assam General Sales Tax Act as well as Central Sales Tax Act. Thus, inclusion of the transaction under the Central Sales Tax Act in conformity with form XXXI-A does not suffer from any illegality or infirmity as the State has not levied any tax nor tried to take out any transaction from the purview of the Central Sales Tax Act. 14.. The respondent-State have come up with the plea that the provisions of section 10A of the Act are in line with the provision of Income-tax Act contained in section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, which reads as follows: "44AB. Audit of accounts of certain persons carrying on business or profession.-Every person,- (a) carrying on business shall, if his total sales turnover or gross receipts, as the case may be, in business exceed or exceeds forty lakh rupees in any previous year; or (b) carrying on profession shall, if his gross receipts in profession exceed ten lakh rupees in any previous year; or (c)................. get ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of such report together with proof of furnishing the report; (e) Where the accounts of the assessee have been audited, the return is accompanied by copies of the audited profit and loss account and balance sheet and the auditor's report and, where an audit of cost accounts of the assessee has been conducted, under section 233B of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), also the report under that section;". "271B. Failure to get accounts audited.-If any person fails, to get his accounts audited in respect of any previous year or years relevant to an assessment year or furnish a report of such audit as required under section 44AB, the assessing officer may direct that such person shall pay, by way of penalty, a sum equal to one-half per cent of the total sales, turnover or gross receipts, as the case may be, in business, or of the gross receipts in profession, in such previous year or years or a sum of one hundred thousand rupees, whichever is less." 17.. Dr. Saraf has further submitted that in absence of any similar or identical provisions under the Act, the authorities are unable to take any action against the dealers who refuse or fail to submit the returns as the assessing a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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