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TMI Blog2015 (8) TMI 684X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tted their original declaration forms before Assessing Authority, he was bound to take same for completing assessment without insisting on uploading declaration forms in electronic format – Petitions allowed and impugned orders set aside – Decided in favour of Assesse. - Writ Petition Nos. 7260, 6466, 8450, 8451, 6615, 9112, 9113, 7294, 7716 and 7717 of 2015 - - - Dated:- 25-6-2015 - R. Sudhakar And K. B. K. Vasuki, JJ. For the Appellant : Mr. C Natarajan, S.C. for M/s. M V Swaroop Mr. V S Manoj Mr. Joseph Prabakar, Mrs. Hema Muralikrishnan, Mr. R Raghavan For the Respondent : Mr. T Murugesan, Spl. G.P.-cum-Sr.Public Prosecutor Assisted by Mrs. Mala, G.A. (Pondy) ORDER (Order of the Court was made by R. Sudhakar, J.) The above Writ Petitions have been filed challenging the assessment order passed by the Commercial Tax Officer in respect of each one of the assessee. The assessee in these cases are aggrieved by the assessment order passed by the competent authority on the ground that they have not submitted a part of declaration forms as required under law. Therefore, the impugned order proposed to demand differential tax. Each one of the petitioner/assessee ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is satisfied that the person concerned was prevented by sufficient cause from furnishing such declaration or certificate with in the aforesaid time, that authority may allow such declaration or certificate to be furnished within such further time as that authority may permit. 5. In the notice, it is stated that as the dealers did not file the declaration forms despite lapse of time as mentioned in Rule 12(7), the Commercial Tax Officer proposed to reject the claim of concession/exemption and assess the turnover on higher rate of duty as applicable. It is pertinent to point out at this point of time that in this notice a specific direction was issued to the dealers to file the documents in support of the monthly returns filed. They were given time upto 19.2.2015 to submit relevant records and their objections, if any, on or before 19th February, 2015. 6. In response to the said notice, reply was submitted by the present Writ Petitioner dated 19th February, 2015, stating that in view of the voluminous transaction and the assessment is spread over to many assessment years, the assessee is trying to comply with the requirement of uploading the 'C' form details in the fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on the advice of the Department. The Officer, in the said letter endorsed that as a final opportunity, time granted upto 24.2.2015. On 20.2.2015, the assessee again sent a letter to the Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Department, which was acknowledged by the Department, stating that they were facing some difficulty in uploading the data, namely, the declaration forms, due to technical snag. We set out hereunder the details of the said letter: As a unique practice, the Department has advised assessees to upload the statutory form details online. You may appreciate to note that this is a new system introduced for the 1st time for online uploading of statutory form details in the departmental server since from the introduction of VAT Act, ie., From financial year 2007-08 and onwards. We are facing lot of difficulties in uploading the details. The server is also very slow. Many times network issue is there. For uploading details in the system, it is taking unreasonably longer time. We have already uploaded the details of statutory forms for the Financial Year 2010-11. We are in the process of uploading the details for the financial year 2011-12 and remaining years. Further we r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... holding that the dealer had not submitted declaration forms until 23.2.2015, other than 'C' Forms for a certain value. The reasoning given by the Officer reads as follows: The dealer was requested by this office notice dated 10/12/2014, 22/01/2015 to file the required declaration forms, but the dealer has not filed the forms. Hence, a Final Notice issued on 10/02/2015 for submission of Forms/objections and time given upto 19/02/2015, for which the dealer has requested 6 months extension of time. However time has been granted upto 24/02/2015 as a final opportunity as per the request letter dated 19/02/2015 submitted by the dealer. But the dealer has not submitted any Declaration forms until 23/02/2015 other than C Forms for a value of ₹ 1346642171.00 The Assessment can't be prolonged further and hence the Total and Taxable Turnover has been determined based on the return filed by the dealer for the year 2010-11 as detailed below as provided under CST Act 1956, as per proposition Notice dated 10/02/2015 rejecting the claim of concession/exemption since it is not supported by prescribed statutory forms. 12. From a reading of this impugned order, it appears ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . 14. This now leads to the core issue as to whether the Authority could pass an assessment order on the premise that the assessee/Writ Petitioner in each case has not uploaded the declaration forms online in the manner required by the Department. 15. Mr.C.Natarajan, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Writ Petitioner in W.P.No.7260 of 2015 pointed out that the purport of Section 6A(1) and (2) of the Central Sales Tax Act relating to Form F and Section 8(4) proviso insofar as 'C' Forms is concerned is for furnishing of such declaration forms to the Assessing Authority within the prescribed time. He further submits Section 13 relates to power of the Central Government to make rules, more particularly Section 13(1)(d), which provides the manner in which the declaration forms may be produced or furnished. Section 13(3) and (4) enables the State Government to make rules not inconsistent with the provisions of the Act. 16. He also submits that these Sections also speak about the declaration forms should be maintained and furnished. Rule 12(7) of the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957 provides for the manner in which the single or multiple dec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ase may be, and not by reason of sale, the burden of proving that the movement of those goods was so occasioned shall be on that dealer and for this purpose he may furnish to the assessing authority, within the prescribed time or within such further time as that authority may, for sufficient cause, permit, a declaration, duly filled and signed by the principal officer of the other place of business, or his agent or principal, as the case may be, containing the prescribed particulars in the prescribed form obtained from the prescribed authority, along with the evidence of despatch of such goods and if the dealer fails to furnish such declaration, then, the movement of such goods shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act to have been occasioned as a result of sale. (2) If the assessing authority is satisfied after making such inquiry as he may deem necessary that the particulars contained in the declaration furnished by a dealer under sub-section(1) are true, he may, at the time of, or at any time before, the assessment of the tax payable by the dealer under this Act, make an order to that effect and thereupon the movement of goods to which the declaration relates shall be deem ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rred by sub-section (3), the State Government may make Rules for all or any of the following purposes, namely;-- (a) the publication of lists of registered dealers, of the amendments made in such list from time to time, and the particulars to be contained in such lists; (aa) the manner in which security may be furnished under sub-section (2-A) or sub-section (3-A) or sub-section (3-C) of Section 7 and the manner in which and the time within which any deficiency may be made up under subsection (3-E) of that section; (b) the form and manner in which accounts relating to sales in the course of inter-State trade or commerce shall be kept by registered dealers. (c) the furnishing of any information relating to the stocks of goods of purchases, sales and delivers of goods by, any dealer or any other information relating to his business as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act; (d) the inspection of any books; accounts or documents required to be kept under this Act, the entry into any premises in all reasonable times for the purposes of searching for any such books, accounts or documents kept or suspected to be kept in such premises and the seizure of such books, a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing dealer may, instead of attaching the form of declaration to the return in Form 1, keep it in his custody subject to the condition that he maintains a register in Form 9 showing serially and chronologically the receipt of the forms of declaration from the purchasing dealers and submits all the forms of declaration relating to the year at any time before the final assessment of the accounts for that year. Similarly the certificates in Forms D, E-I and E-II referred to in sub-rules (1) and (2) of rule 5 may be submitted at any time before the final assessment of the accounts for that year. Rule 12(1), (5) and (7) of the Central Sales Tax (Registration Turnover Rules): 12.(1) The declaration and the certificate referred to in sub-section (4) of Section 8 shall be in Forms C and D respectively; Provided that Form C in force before the commencement of the Central Sales Tax Registration and Turnover (Amendment) Rules, 1974, or before the commencement of the Central Sales Tax Registration and Turnover (Amendment) Rules, 1976, may also be used up to the 31st December, 17[31st December, 1979], with suitable modifications: ....... (5) The declaration referred to in sub-se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of completing the assessment can insist upon the uploading of the declaration forms online when the assessee submits the same in the physical form, as has been presented to them by their buyers. 23. We are inclined to accept the submission made by the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner, as both on fact and law, we find that the impugned orders have been passed on the misconception of the provisions as mentioned above. When there is no specific indication in the Central Sales Tax Act or the Puducherry Value Added Tax Rules to provide the declaration forms in electronic form, we fail to understand that for the convenience of the Department how the assessee could be made to suffer. The fact that the declaration forms were submitted, but not accepted by the Department for the afore-said reason is evident from the counter affidavit, though the impugned order states otherwise. A reading of the various correspondences between the assessee and the Department, it is clear that the delay in submitting the declaration forms was only at the instance of the Department that the data sheet should be uploaded online together with the declaration forms. 24. We fail to unders ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Assessing Officer the exemption can be granted. The object of the Rule is to ensure that the assessee is not denied a benefit which is available to it under law on a technical plea. The Assessing Officer is empowered to grant time. That means that the provisions requiring filing of declaration forms along with the return is a directory provision and not a mandatory provision. In a given case even the declaration forms can be filed before the appellate authority as an appeal is continuation of the assessment proceedings. In a given case, if the appellate authority is satisfied that assessee was prevented by reasonable and sufficient cause which dis-enabled him to file the forms in time, it can be accepted. It can also be accepted as additional evidence in support of the claim for deduction. In the instant case, respondent No.1-company made a specific request before the revisional authority which was turned down. Therefore, the question of any non-compliance with the relevant statutes does not arise. It was noted by this Court in Sahney Steel and Press Works Ltd. and Anr. v. Commercial Tax Officer and Ors., [1985] 4 SCC 173 that even in a given case, an assessee can be given an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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