M SWAMINATHAN ACHARI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE tax revision cases at the instance of the assessee arise out of a common order passed by the Kerala Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, Thiruvananthapuram, in T. A. Nos. 610, 611, 612, 613, 614 of 1988 and 532 of 1989. There is no tax revision case from T. A. No. 610 of 1988.

(2.) RELEVANT assessment years in T. R. C. Nos. 70 and 71 of 1994 are 1983-84 and 1984-85. For T. R. C. No. 73 of 1994 the relevant assessment year is 1985-86. As far as the assessment year 1986-87 is concerned there were two orders dated September 30, 1987 and August 22, 1988 which were subject-matter of T. A. Nos. 614 of 1988 and 532 of 1989 respectively before the Tribunal. T. R. C. No. 72 of 1994 arise from order in T. A. No. 532 of 1989 and T. R. C. No. 74 of 1994 arises from order in T. A. No. 614 of 1988.

(3.) ON going through the events in this case we are of the view that the Tribunal was fully justified in entering such a finding. Immediately after the seizure of the records at the time of inspection on April 21, 1977 a notice was issued on April 22, 1987 directing the assessee to produce his accounts for the years 1985-86 and 1986-87. He requested for time and the request was allowed up to May 8, 1987. Even though the assessee appeared on May 8, 1987, he did not produce books of account. The assessing officer verified the entire seized records and found that sale of gold ornaments has been suppressed in all the years. A notice proposing to impose penalty under section 46 (1) (c) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act was issued to the assessee on May 15, 1987. In response to the above notice he submitted a petition requesting for an opportunity to verify the seized records so as to enable him to explain the entries therein. The assessing officer as per communication dated June 1, 1987 granted the assessee an opportunity to appear and verify the seized records on June 9, 1987. The assessee's authorised representative appeared in response to the notice dated June 1, 1987 on August 24, 1987 and verified the seized records, i. e. , 13 diaries and 3 business slips. He did not raise any objection regarding the entries therein. He did not file any statement in regard to the transactions detected. Subsequently, a notice was issued on July 3, 1987 under section 19 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act proposing to tax the turnover that has escaped assessment as revealed from the seized records. Pursuant thereto Advocate V. K. Ramachandran Nair filed vakalath on behalf of the assessee and requested the assessing authority to afford him an opportunity to verify the seized records and take down the extracts wherever necessary. Time was granted up to August 10, 1987 to verify the records. Since the advocate did not turn up a notice was issued on August 18, 1987 giving the advocate one more opportunity to verify the seized records on or before August 18, 1987. Copy of the notice was sent to the assessee also. But neither the advocate nor the assessee availed of the opportunity. The assessing officer thereupon completed the assessment for the years 1982-83 to 1986-87 under section 19 of the KGST Act.