9911796707
TMI Blog1963 (7) TMI 69X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Act"). During the relevant period, "sales" of iron and steel were not exigible to sales tax. Only a single point tax was leviable on transac- tions relating to iron and steel and that at the last purchase point. These are admitted facts. Despite the same, the petitioner unauthorisedly collected from his customers certain sums of money as sales tax. The petitioner was asked by the Revenue to remit those sums to the Treasury. At that stage, the petitioner moved this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution (in W.P. Nos. 27 and 33 of 1959*) to quash the demand notices issued to him. This Court held that where a dealer had collected from the customer an amount in anticipation of or against the contingency of his being made liable to pay ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ised such amount by way of the tax provided that such claim is made within one year from the date of payment of the amount into a Government treasury or recovery thereof as arrear of land revenue." The amending Act also contains a validating provision. The same is found in section 10 of the amending Act. That section says: "Anything done or any action taken or purported to be done or taken (including any notices or orders issued or assessment, payments, or recoveries made and all proceedings held for the levy and collection of tax) under the principal Act before the commencement of this Act, shall, notwithstanding any judgment, decree or order of any court, be deemed to have been validly done, taken, issued, made or held and shall have eff ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... if they are, the constitutional challenge to their validity must be examined and decided; if, however, the facts admitted or proved do not attract the impugned provisions there is no occasion to decide the issue about the vires of the said provisions; any decision on the said question would in such a case be purely academic; Courts are and should be reluctant to decide constitutional points merely as matters of academic importance. Therefore, we have to first see whether there is any contravention of sub-section (1) of section 18 before pronouncing on the question as to the constitutional validity of sub-section (3) of section 18. Section 18(1) says: "No person who is not a registered dealer shall collect any amount by way of tax under th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... shall apply to a casual trader in respect of the collections made by him who shall pay such tax imme- diately after an assessment is made during any part of the assessment year. (2) The assessing authority may at any time call for and examine the accounts of a registered dealer for the purpose of satisfying himself that the dealer has paid in full the amount collected by him by way of tax, as required by clause (ii) of sub-rule (1). (3) If the assessing authority is satisfied that any amount collected by the dealer by way of tax has not been paid by him to the Govern- ment in any year as required by clause (ii) of sub-rule (1), the assessing authority shall issue a notice to the dealer in Form 3 specifying there- in the total sum so with ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 11 S.T.C. 17; A.I.R. 1960 S.C. 378. referred to earlier. Identical question of law arose for consideration in that case. The material facts were more or less similar. The Court held that before the penalty of forfeiture can be imposed upon the dealer under the proviso it must be shown that he has acted contrary to the conditions and restrictions prescribed by the rules; it would not be enough to show that the collection of the amounts in question by the dealer is otherwise illegal or improper; the contraven- tion of the statutory provision contained in section 14A of the Bihar Sales Tax Act or of the Rules prescribing conditions and restrictions in this behalf alone can form the basis of the imposition of the penalty under the proviso. Dea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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