BHARATH SANCHAR NIGAM LTD Vs. ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HAVING suffered an adverse judgment on 04.10.2010 in W.P.(C)No.23286/2010, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., ( ''BSNL ''), being the petitioner therein, filed the present writ appeal assailing the findings of the learned single Judge that the appellant has an efficacious alternative remedy.

(2.) THE facts in brief are that the appellant, a public sector undertaking, was a dealer registered under the provisions of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, ('the Act' for brevity) on the rolls of the first respondent, namely Assistant Commissioner (Assessment), Commercial Taxes, Special Circle, Thiruvananthapuram. When the second respondent, the Deputy Commissioner, intended to assess the appellant to tax for the years 2003 -04 and 2004 -05 under Section 17D of the Act, complaining that it had not been preceded by a public hearing, the appellant approached this Court by filing W.P.(C)No. 9206/2010.

(3.) THROUGH judgement dated 05.04.2010, this Court allowed the writ petition directing the second respondent to pass fresh orders within a stipulated time frame, by fully complying with the statutory requirements. In compliance with the directions of this Court, the second respondent duly notified through print media that it would be holding a hearing on 28.05.2010. It also required the appellant to produce the books of accounts on that day. The representatives of the appellant appeared before the 2nd respondent and represented that, in the light of the decentralisation of the accounting procedure spreading along numerous branches across the length and breadth of Kerala, the records are too voluminous to be carried and that necessary explanation with reference to the audit report had already been submitted before the first respondent. Despite the said representation, the second respondent insisted on the authorities of the appellant that they produce the details of particular receipts shown under Schedules N and O to the balance sheet.