BHAGWANDAS KHANDELWAL Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE question referred by the Sales Tax Tribunal under section 24(1) of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947, in each of these S.J.Cs. analogously heard is this :

(2.) SECTION 21 of the Act under which the assessee-dealer had applied for summoning of the said two retailers, so far as material is this :

(3.) THE rival contentions are as follows : The assessee-dealer's points are these : The materials recovered by seizure of the books of accounts of the said two retailers are not admissible against the assessee-dealer inasmuch as the assessee-dealer was not given full opportunity to meet the case against him on the basis of such materials. The assessee-dealer's point is that he was not given a chance to confront the said two retailers one of whom was examined in his absence and other was not examined at all, and thus, according to the assessee-dealer, there was denial of natural justice. The department's case, on the other hand, is that the assessing officers were not bound to accede to the request of the assessee-dealer to bring the persons from whom information regarding suppression of accounts is gathered, and to examine them in the presence of the assessee-dealer. The department's point is that the assessee-dealer cannot ask for this as of right.