K VASUDEVAN CHETTIAR Vs. STATE OF MADRAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal under section 37 of the Tamil Nadu general Sales Tax Act, against the suo motu orders passed by the Board of revenue under section 34 of the Act. The assessee in this case was assessed originally for the years 1959-60, 1960-61, 1961-62 and 1962-63 on the basis of the returns filed by him. Subsequently, in or about October, 1964, the residence of the assessee was inspected and certain anamath account books and slips were recovered pertaining to the above years in question. These anamath accounts were scrutinised by the assessing authority in the presence of the assessee and after detailed investigation, the suppressed turnover was determined by the assessing authority in respect of each of the years and a show cause notice was issued under section 16 proposing to revise the original assessments. THIS show cause notice required the assessee to file his objections within a period of five days. The assessee received the notice but, instead of filing the objections, he sent in his request seeking an extension of time for filing objections on the ground that his wife was seriously ill. The assessing authority received the letter of the assessee seeking extension of time on 11th December, 1964, but without passing any orders thereon, he proceeded to revise the assessments on 17th December, 1964.

(2.) AS against the revised assessment under section 16, the assessee filed appeals before the Appellate ASsistant Commissioner under section 31. In the memorandum of grounds of appeal before the Appellate assistant Commissioner, the main point urged was that the assessing authority did not give the assessee reasonable opportunity to put forward his objections to the show cause notice. The assessee also questioned the best judgment assessment made by the assessing authority on the basis of the anamath accounts and slips on various grounds. The assessee has not, in fact, disowned the anamath books and slips seized from his residence by the departmental authorities. The Appellate ASsistant Commissioner taking a sympathetic view of the situation in which the assessee was placed at the time when he received the show cause notice held that the assessing authority should have given some reasonable time for filing objections. In that view, he set aside the revised assessment orders and directed the assessing authority to give reasonable opportunity to the assessee to file his objections and to finalise the assessment, after a due consideration of those objections. The said order of the appellate ASsistant Commissioner was revised by the Board of Revenue under section 34. According to the Board, the anamath account books and the slips recovered from the assessee's residence was investigated in the presence of the assessee, that the assessee was all through aware of the position emerging from the inspection of the anamath books and slips, that, in the circumstances, the show cause notice giving five days'time cannot be said to be vitiated by violation of the principles of natural justice and that, therefore, the appellate ASsistant Commissioner was not justified in remanding the matter to the assessing authority without himself disposing of the appeal on merits.