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TMI Blog2017 (6) TMI 1287X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the petitioner had no effective opportunity to put forth his objection as the Pre-Assessment Notice was bereft of particulars. Consequently, the impugned Assessment Orders are flawed - The second mistake committed by the Assessing Officer is, not affording an opportunity of personal hearing. The petitioner dealer did not have adequate opportunity to put forth his objections and the impugned Assessment Orders are vitiated on the ground of violation of Principles of Natural Justice - petition allowed. - W.A.(MD).Nos.859 of 2017 to 862 of 2017 and W.P.(MD)Nos. 5086, 8574, 8580, 8586, 8615 and 9820 to 9823 of 2017 and C.M.P.(MD)Nos.5796 to 5799 of 2017 and W.M.P.(MD)Nos.4094, 6511, 6513, 6516, 6494 and 7528 to 7531 of 2017 - - - Dated:- 29-6-2017 - THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE T.S.SIVAGNANAM And THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE P.VELMURUGAN For the Appellant : Mr.MD.Ibrahim Ali For the Respondents : Mr.S.Karthikeyan JUDGMENT [Judgment of the Court was delivered by T.S.SIVAGNANAM, J.] When the Writ Appeals were filed by the appellant dealer, challenging the conditional interim order granted by the learned Single Judge, at the request of the learned counsels appearing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t letter. After stating so, the Assessing Officer observed that there was a difference in the purchase turnover between the petitioner's Annexure I and the Annexure II of the other end dealers. Accordingly, proposal was made to reverse the Input Tax Credit, under section 19 (16) of the Act, for all the five assessment years. The petitioner was granted 15 days time to submit his objection, failing which, he was informed that final orders would be passed. 6.On receipt of the notice, it appears that the petitioner submitted a reply / request letter, requesting for a personal hearing and also copies of the relevant documents which were referred to by the Assessing Officer. This reply / request made by the petitioner vide letter dated 22.02.2016, was received by the Assessing Officer on the very same date. Though, such a specific request was made by the petitioner for a personal hearing and supply of copies of documents, the Assessing Officer has ignored such request and merely observed that the petitioner has filed his reply along with copies of purchase invoices and the said documents were verified in the light of the provisions of the Acts and Rules and proceeded to complete t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... payable on the sale of goods manufactured by him. The entitlement to such credit flows from the statute. Therefore, the conditions to be fulfilled by the dealer to be entitled to such a credit, which is statutory in character, is mandatory. Therefore, it will be too broad principle to state that all that the dealer is required to produce along with his return, proof of payment of tax and documents required to be filed along with return and would be automatically entitled to credit. This is so because the object of introducing such mechanism permitting credit is on one hand to ensure against cascading tax burden and on the other hand of promoting regulatory compliance. Thus, if a concession so granted by the statue is shown to have been availed, furnishing incorrect details or adopting certain other dubious methods, the same requires to be dealt with under the statue and such unintended benefit has to be reversed. 55.Admittedly, in the instant case, there is no challenge to the statutory provisions and the complaint of all the dealer is largely on the procedure adopted by the respective assessing officers. The Principal Secretary and Commissioner of Commercial Taxes conscious ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pective assessing officers without even the knowledge of the assessing officer of the other end dealer resultantly no action being taken against other end dealer, assuming, he is at fault. Therefore, it is high time the Department wakes up and stops the one way approach and examine the matter in a holistic manner so that the defaulting dealer is brought to books. 57.Hence, for all the above reasons, all the writ petitions are allowed and the notices/orders either original or appellate or revisional are set aside and the matters are remanded to the respective assessing officers, to undertake a fresh exercise by conducting a thorough enquiry in consultation with the assessing officers of the other end dealer for which purpose the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes shall empower the assessing officers to seek information from other circles as well and in the mean time to evolve a centralized mechanism to exclusively deal with the cases of mismatch and while doing so, the Principal Commissioner shall take note of the procedures adopted by the other States, more particularly, in Maharashtra,Gujarat, and Delhi and if any statutory amendments have to be made, make appropriate recommend ..... 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