9911796707
TMI Blog1961 (10) TMI 63X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed by this Court on September 7, 1959, against the order, dated June 17, 1959, passed by the first respondent-the Commercial Tax Officer-assessing the appellant to central sales tax amounting to Rs. 42,647 odd, for the period July 30, 1957, to March 31, 1958, under the Central Sales Tax Act (LXXIV of 1956), which hereinafter will be referred to as the Act. The second respondent is the State of West Bengal, and the third res- pondent is the Union of India. In view of the order we propose to make in this case, it is not necessary to state in any detail the facts and circumstances leading up to this appeal. The appellant is a partnership firm, under the Indian Partnership Act, with its principal place of business at 18, Netaji Su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dies under the Act itself, and cam directly to this Court as if the order of assessment passed by the first respondent was final. The question, therefore, arises whether this Court should entertain the appeal, when even the facts have not been finally determined by the final fact-finding authority under the Act, nor has the jurisdiction of the High Court been invoked to exercise its powers under the Act. But Mr. Chatterjee, on behalf of the appellant, has contended in the first instance that the powers of this Court are wide enough to enable him to approach this Court direct, when, according to him, there had been an assessment of tax without the authority of law. There is no doubt that the powers of this Court under Article 136 of the Cons ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tax. There are several reasons why the authority of that decision cannot be invoked in favour of the appellant on the preliminary question whether this Court should at all entertain the appeal. In that case, in the reported decision of this Court, no such question, as we have to deter- mine, had been raised. Apparently, counsel for both the parties were anxious to have the final determination of the controversy by this Court. Secondly, there were special circumstances in that case, which are not present in the instant case. The most outstanding feature of that case was, as pointed out by this Court, that the Assessing Authority had not exercised its own judgment in the matter of the assessment in question. The Assessing Authority had, co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... /s. Ratilal Vadilal [1961] 12 S.T.C. 18; A.I.R. 1961 S.C. 1106.. That was a case in which the State of Bombay had appealed to this Court on special leave against the order of the Sales Tax Tribunal, Bombay, by which the Tribunal had allowed the appeal before it and set aside the order of the Collector of Sales Tax, under the Bombay Sales Tax Act. The respondents in that case were commission agents doing business as clearing and transport contractors. They had applied to the Collector of Sales Tax, Bombay, for the determination of the question if they could be called "dealers" within the meaning of the Act, after giving the facts and circumstances of their case. In that case also no steps had been taken to have a reference made to the High C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted April 24, 1961; Since reported at [1961] 12 S.T.C. 506. In that case, the previous decisions of this Court have all been considered in extenso. We are in entire agreement with what has been laid down by this Court in that batch of cases. Another decision of a Division Bench of this Court is the case of Kanhaiyalal Lohia v. Commissioner of Income-tax, West Bengal Civil Appeals Nos. 347-350 of 1960; judgment dated July 17, 1961. In that case, this Court has taken the same view and dismissed the appeal as "incompetent". The present case is a much simpler one, in which there are no special circumstances and in which the facts have not yet been finally determined. It may also be noted that the appellant has not challenged the vires of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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