Home Case Index All Cases VAT and Sales Tax VAT and Sales Tax + HC VAT and Sales Tax - 2012 (4) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2012 (4) TMI 552 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxWhether the order of best judgment assessment of the assessing authority as upheld by the appellate authority and the Tribunal was liable to be interfered with under article 226 of the Constitution, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the present case? Held that:- As already held in the present case, the reasons given by the assessing authority were not irrelevant and consistently the authorities upheld the addition to the turnover. Such addition could not be weighed in golden scales, if the same is broadly justified. Some amount of guesswork is inevitable. In exercise of writ jurisdiction, this court does not sit in appeal over the decision of the statutory authorities and does not interfere unless the same are arbitrary or irrational. Sales Tax Officer had material before him to find out, how much turnover had escaped assessment during a period of 19 days. On the basis of that material he estimated the escaped turnover for the entire year. Hence it cannot be said that there was no basis for the estimate made by the Sales Tax Officer. It may be that his estimate was an over-estimate or an under-estimate, but it cannot be said that the estimate was without any basis. In making that estimate, there was an element of guess-work which was inevitable in the circumstances of the case. If the Sales Tax Officer was compelled to adopt a rule of thumb which in a sense is an arbitrary rule, the assessee was entirely responsible for that situation. Thus view taken by the learned single judge quashing the order of assessment as upheld by the first appellate authority and the Tribunal cannot be upheld. Appeal allowed
|