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2022 (7) TMI 762 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxReopening of assessment - Escapement of turnover - Issuance of SCN - whether the Sales Tax Tribunal committed error of law and fact particularly when it has held that the assessing authority had mechanically issued the notice under Section 12(8) of the OST ACT? - proper interpretation of the provisions of law with reference to the exemption allowed by the DIC and objection raised by AG(O) or not - HELD THAT:- The jurisdictional requirement of the STO having to form an independent opinion regarding the escapement of assessment was explained by this Court in The Indure Limited v. Commissioner of Sales Tax [2006 (7) TMI 572 - ORISSA HIGH COURT]. In that case also the assessment was sought to be reopened by the STO under Section 12 (8) of the OST Act only on the basis of audit objection without forming any independent opinion himself regarding escapement of turnover. Ultimately in The Indure Limited, the impugned notice of reassessment was quashed since the Sales Tax Officer had “blindly initiated” the assessment proceeding on order to objection “without any independent application of mind.” The facts of the present case are more or less similar. Here again it is seen from the order of the ACST, that the reopening assessment was made by the STO only on the basis of an audit objection and without any independent application of mind as to whether there had been an escapement of turnover for the periods in question. Following the decision in The Indure Limited, this Court is of the view that the reassessment orders of the STO cannot be sustained in law. The Tribunal erred in remanding the matters to the STO while the jurisdictional requirement of independent satisfaction by the STO in the manner explained in The Indure Limited was not existent in the present cases. The question framed by this Court is answered in affirmative by holding that the STO had mechanically issued the notices under Section 12(8) of the OST Act - the orders of the STO and the Tribunal are hereby set aside and the order of the ACST is restored to file - revision petition disposed off.
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