TMI Blog1966 (9) TMI 122X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd an advance estimate of turnover as required under section 13, contravention of restriction or condition notified under section 17 (section 18), wilful submission of untrue return punishable under section 15(2)(a) and the like. Composition of the offences aforesaid is provided in section 46 of the Act. Under the section, the prescribed authority may accept from any person who has committed or is reasonably suspected of having committed an offence against this Act, a certain sum specified in the section, by way of composition of such offence. In these cases, the Commercial Tax Officer, the Joint Commercial Tax Officer or the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, as the case may be, issued notice called the compounding notice to the petitioners in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... could not be any question of the dealer being aggrieved so as to question the compounding notice. Of course, if the offer is not accepted by the dealer, he is liable for prosecution. Learned counsel for the petitioners contends that such a stand is neither just nor reasonable. The petitioners have a real grievance against such a notice arbitrarily demanding the payment of the sum under section 46 of the Act. Learned counsel says that in some cases the amount is uncalled for, unwarranted and unjust, in some cases the compounding notice is defective, in some other cases the levy of the maximum compounding fee is not called for and in other cases excess fees have been levied. Learned counsel Sri Chandrasekhara Sastry submits that in one cas ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ection 89 of the judicature Act, 1873, was understood to be equivalent to 'any action' and not any step in an action. But in the rules of the Supreme Court, Order 64, rule 13, 'proceeding' is used as meaning a step in an action.......Any other proceeding in the action' in the rules of the Supreme Court Order 26, rule 1, mean any proceeding with a view to continuing the action, i.e., a step forward, not one backward." In Kochadai Naidu v. Nagayasami Naidu[1961] 1 M.L.J. 342., Ramachandra Iyer, J., (as he then was) was dealing with a petition for transfer of some criminal proceedings to a civil court to be tried along with a suit in the civil court. The learned judge considered the dictionary meanings of the word "proceeding". The word "proce ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as committed the offence, leaving to the dealer the choice and the option either to face a prosecution, if one should be launched, or to offer to compound the offence. Therefore, in revision, there is scope for further discussion and consideration whether the officer concerned was right in thinking that an offence has been committed or whether there is basis for any reasonable suspicion of the offence having been committed under the Act. Mere suspicion will not do. It must be a reasonable suspicion, a suspicion which any reasonable man will entertain on the given facts. Sometimes dealers may be made to consent to compositions even in cases where there obviously cannot be an offence under the Act, as for instance, petty and insignificant non ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... amkonda Venkata Subbaiah[1957] 8 S.T.C. 309., where it is observed that the closing of a case by composition under section 16 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939 (which is equivalent to the present section 46), against a dealer who has rendered himself liable to prosecution for violating the mandatory provisions of the Act is a proceeding recorded by the prescribed authority within the meaning of section 11 of the Act, as amended by the Madras General Sales Tax (Andhra Amendment) Act, 1954, and an appeal would therefore lie against an order of composition under section 16. That case was distinguished by learned counsel for the State in that the dealer paid the compounding fee and allowed the officer to close the records and then filed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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