TMI Blog1968 (2) TMI 93X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or the appellant. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment of the Court was delivered by SIKRI, J.- The appellant, a member of the joint Hindu family- M. Venkatarayappa Sons-hereinafter referred to as the assessee, filed quarterly returns of its business turnover for the year April 1, 1955, to March 31, 1956. The Commercial Tax Officer, Kolar, estimated the turnover at Rs. 2,20,000 and levied a tax of Rs. 2,525. The assessee appealed to the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Bangalore Division, and filed a statement of purchases of groundnuts before the Deputy Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner remanded the case with the following observations: "The order of the assessing officer does no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Commissioner reliance was placed on a decision of the Mysore High Court in C.R.P. 666 of 1959' according to which the impugned assessment in the case had to be struck down as barred by limitation. The Commissioner, however, relying on sections 4 and 6 of the Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1962, retrospectively amending section 40 of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957, held on October 22, 1962, that the assessment was not barred by limitation. He, however, found that the Commercial Tax Officer had not given a notice in writing to the assessee how and why he was not satisfied with the correctness of the accounts and the basis on which he proposed to make the assessment. The Commissioner accordingly set aside the assessment and remanded the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r. Sanghi to take this point as the point is not mentioned in the statement of the case. We overrule this contention because by the time this case was taken up again for hearing on February 1, 1968, the learned counsel for the appellant had sufficient Reported as K.S. Subbarayappa Sons v. The State of Mysore [1962] 13 S.T.C. 873 opportunity to study the point. Moreover, this Court does not decide constitutional points unless it is absolutely essential to do so. We may now give our reasons why we have come to the above conclusion. The relevant statutory provisions of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1948 -hereinafter referred to as the 1948 Act-are as follows: Section 3 is the charging section and provides, inter alia, that "subject to the prov ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d the period within which such assessment may be made not exceeding three years [sec- tion 25(2)(f)]". In pursuance of these powers, the Mysore Sales Tax Rules, 1948, were made by the Government. The relevant rules may now be set out: "17. (1) Every dealer liable to submit a return under rule 12 except those who have elected to be assessed by the method described in rule 20 shall, on or before the first day of August in every year, submit to the assessing authority of the area in which his principal place of business is situated a return in Form VIII showing the actual gross and net turnover for the preceding year and the amounts by way of tax or taxes actually collected during that year. Every dealer not liable to submit a return under ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , as the case may be, may, at any time within the year or the two years next succeeding that to which the tax or licence fee relates, assess the tax payable on the turnover which has escaped assessment or levy the licence fee, after issuing a notice to the dealer or licensee and after making such enquiry as he considers necessary. (2) If for any reason any tax or licence fee has been assessed at too low a rate in any year, the assessing authority or the licensing authority, as the case may be, may, at any time within the year or the two years next succeeding that to which the tax or licence fee relates, revise the assessment or the licence fee after issuing a notice to the dealer or licensee and after making such enquiry as he considers n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and, if completed, it might be that the entire turnover would be caught in the net." He then dealt with the question: when do the assessment proceedings under the Act in respect of a registered dealer commence and when do they terminate? He concluded thus: "It is manifest that in the case of a registered dealer the proceedings before the Commissioner start factually when a return is made or when a notice is issued to him either under section 10(3) or under section 11(2) of the Act." He then observed that a case would be pending till a final order of assessment was made by the highest Tribunal or Court under the Act. He finally concluded at page 453: "For the foregoing reasons we hold that a statutory obligation to make a return with ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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