STATE OF KERALA Vs. A M SHAHID

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether the Kerala Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal is right in holding that in a case where no return is filed by the dealer, the case has to be treated as one of turnover escaping assessment and limitation under Section 19 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 would apply is the question referred for decision of the Full Bench.

(2.) A Division Bench of this Court in V.S. Prabhakaran & Co. v. State of Kerala 121 STC 586 has taken the view placing the reliance on the apex court decision in Regional Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax, Indore v. Malwa Vanaspati and Chemical, Co. Ltd. (1968) 21 STC 431 that where the dealer has not filed the prescribed return of his turnover, the case is clearly one of escaped assessment and the proceeding for assessment must commence in respect of that turnover within the period prescribed by Section 19(1) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act (K.G.S.T. Act) . The Division Bench which heard this case expressed doubt in the ratio in Prabhakaran's case (supra) as the decision of the Supreme Court relied on was dealing with the provisions of the Madhya Bharat Sales Tax Act which is not in pan materia with the provisions of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act.

(3.) Before going into the disputed question, we may first consider the provisions of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act regarding the procedure to be followed in the case of non-filing of return and assessment of escaped turnover. Section 17 of the K.G.S.T. Act deals with the procedure to be followed by the assessing authority which reads as follows: