SONS KNITWEARS Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Assessee has filed this petition under section 22 (2) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 for referring certain questions of law arising out of the order of the Sales Tax Tribunal, Punjab, dated October 30, 1992, passed in Appeal No. 45 of 1992-93 regarding assessment year 1982-83.

(2.) Petitioner-dealer is a partnership concern registered under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 (for short, "the State Act") and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. It is engaged in the sale of yarn. For the assessment year 1982-83, originally the assessment was framed on December 6, 1983 by the Assessing Authority, Ludhiana. Petitioner-dealer had claimed deduction of sales made to seven registered dealers under section 5 (2) (a) (ii) which was disallowed by the Assessing Authority. Appeal against the assessment order was filed before the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Appeals), Punjab (hereinafter referred to as "the first Appellate Authority"), who vide its order dated August 5, 1985 set aside the assessment order and remanded the case for assessment afresh after allowing proper opportunity of being heard to the assessee.

(3.) Before the Assessing Authority, after remand, counsel appearing for the dealer filed an application with a request that the purchasing dealers be summoned for cross-examination. Summons were issued to the purchasing dealers. Service was also ordered to be effected thorough the Taxation Inspector. Service of summons could not be effected as purchasing dealers were not available. Repeated efforts were made but the service could not be effected as they were not found at the last known place of business and residence. Dealer was then asked to throw light on the whereabouts of the purchasing dealers and also to produce them of his own. Petitioner-dealer failed to produce them. The case of the petitioner-dealer was that it was a responsibility of the department to produce the concerned persons for the purposes of cross-examination. Assessing Authority, thereafter, disallowed the sales made to the seven registered dealers. Aggrieved by this order, an appeal was filed before the first appellate authority, who vide its order dated December 16, 1991 upheld the assessment order but reduce the penalty from Rs. 1,50,000 to Rs. 1,10,000. Not satisfied with this order, assessee filed a second appeal before the Sales Tax Tribunal, Punjab (hereinafter referred to as "the Tribunal" ). Tribunal upheld the orders passed by the authorities below and dismissed the appeal in toto by recording finding in the following terms :