JHAGRU SHAW Vs. COMMISSIONER OF COMMERCIAL TAXES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is a business man and carried on business under the name and style of "Jhagru Shaw and Dukhraj Shaw". He is a registered dealer under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941. For the four quarters of the year 1366 B.S. the petitioner filed a return but failed to produce his books and papers in support of the return when called upon to do so. I am not concerned with the excuse put forward by the petitioner for his failure to produce his books of account. That excuse may be true or untrue. I do not decide. In these circumstances, the respondent-Commercial Tax Officer made a summary assessment upon the petitioner and estimated the gross turnover at Rs. 1,80,000 and the taxable turnover at Rs. 1,20,000 and assessed upon the petitioner sales tax amounting to Rs. 6,000. He also imposed a penalty of Rs. 100 on the petitioner.

(2.) Aggrieved by the assessment order the petitioner moved this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution praying for a writ of certiorari for the quashing of the alleged best judgment assessment and for a mandate upon the respondents directing them to forbear from enforcing the assessment order against the petitioner and obtained this Rule.

(3.) Mr. Anil Kumar Sinha, learned Advocate for the petitioner, contended that the best judgment assessment was made on extraneous and irrelevant materials and in an arbitrary manner and must not be sustained. In order to test the argument of Mr. Sinha, it is necessary for me to consider the relevant portion of the impugned order, which is couched in the following language :- I find from records that the assessment of the preceding years also had to be completed in the absence of books of accounts due to dealer's failure to produce the same on the dates of hearing. In spite of the ex parte assessment, the dealer does not care to appear with books of accounts on the date of hearing and as such it appears to me that he finds such accounts made in the absence of books of accounts to his advantage. Taking this into consideration, I estimate the gross turnover of the dealer at Rs. 1,80,000 and the taxable turnover at Rs. 1,20,000.