TMI Blog1969 (1) TMI 54X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s made on behalf of U.P. principals, and in the view that it was not due as sales tax the assessment order included a direction that the amount should be deposited under section 8-A(4) of the Act. The assessee appealed. The only point in dispute before the Judge (Appeals) Sales Tax related to the calculation of tax in respect of various items. There was no dispute as to the quantum of the turnover. The Judge (Appeals) set aside the assessment order and remanded the case for fresh assessment. The appellate order may usefully be reproduced: "This is an appeal against an assessment order passed by Sri H.M. Farooqui, S.T.O., Jhansi, for the year 1956-57. The book version in this case has been accepted. The only point under dispute is that tax on various items has been wrongly calculated. The amount due according to the figures furnished is Rs. 2,842-12-0. It has further been mentioned in the assessment order that some sales tax was realised on foodgrains on behalf of U.P. principals and it appears that this was also added to tax assessed under section 8-A(4). There appears to be some dispute about the actual amount realised which needs further verification from the books of accounts. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the reassessment proceeding and it was not necessary for him to have recourse to section 21 of the Act, and observed that it was difficult to contemplate a proceeding under section 21 when a proceeding under section 7 for fresh assessment was already pending and in which it was open to the Sales Tax Officer to take into account all the taxable turnover of the assessee. But holding that the assessee was entitled to a further opportunity to meet the material against it, he remanded the case. This reference has now been made on the following question: "Whether in the circumstances of the case stated above the Sales Tax Officer in reassessment proceedings was competent to examine the case afresh, de novo and to assess on enhanced turnover in the same order, or separate proceedings under section 21 were required to be taken?" We think that the Additional Judge (Revisions) has erred. In the reassessment proceeding taken upon remand the Sales Tax Officer was bound by the terms of the remand order made by the Judge (Appeals). The jurisdiction exercised by the Sales Tax Officer was not the uninhibited jurisdiction contemplated in an original assessment proceeding. It was controlled by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction and, indeed, he had no business, to go behind that direction. His duty was clear and he had to standardise the rent in accordance with the direction given in this very case by this court......the Rent Controller would have done well to confine himself within the limits of his jurisdiction and to follow up the direction given to him by this court.........." And in Budhilal v. JagannathdasA.I.R. 1963 M.P. 344., the Madhya Pradesh High Court said: "The powers and jurisdiction of the lower court to deal with the suit, after remand, depended on the specifications of the remand order. Because, but for the order of remand, it had ceased to have any seisin of the case and the jurisdiction conferred on it to re-deal with it was circumscribed by the terms of the order in which the remand was made. We are, therefore, of opinion that where the order of remand lays down any limits for the enquiry to be made by the lower court, that court has no jurisdiction to enter into any question which falls outside those limits. In the instant case, the order of remand by the High Court, dated 30th December, 1952, specifically directed the lower court to determine of-and, if so, how far-the plainti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sment in substitution of the assessment made previously and set aside by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner on appeal. There are no restrictions at all on the powers of the Income-tax Officer when he proceeds to reassess the income; subject to the directions given in the Appellate Assistant Commissioner's order, he has to proceed as if he were making an assessment under section 23 at the time when he proceeds to reassess. He is not bound or restricted by anything that had happened either when he made the original assessment or when the appeal was heard by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner; he is governed only by the findings of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. He is not bound by his own findings arrived at in the original assessment; they do not operate as res judicata and undoubtedly have not the force of an order. The findings arrived at by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the directions given by him are binding on him, not as res judicata, but a orders to which he is subject. He is free to take into consideration an relevant material that came into existence for the first time after the original assessment order was made by him. Consequently, the Incometax Offi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eafter, upon revision application by the assessee the Judge (Revisions) set aside the assessment and remanded the case directing that the turnover of timber sleepers be redetermined. In the reassessment proceedings upon remand, the Sales Tax Officer took into account a return filed by the assessee with the income-tax department disclosing certain sales of timber and determined the turnover at Rs. 44,00,000. The Judge (Appeals) accepted the submission of the assessee that the Sales Tax Officer was confined to the original material on the record relating to the sale of timber sleepers and was not competent to take into consideration the income-tax return discovered subsequently. But upon a revision application filed by the Commissioner the Judge (Revisions) held that the Sales Tax Officer was entitled to take into account the additional information gathered from the income-tax return and to determine the turnover accordingly. Upon reference to this court, it was pointed out by the Bench disposing of the reference: "It is no doubt true that the Judge (Revisions), when he made the order of remand, had only in mind the precise point which was argued before him and that was whether the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e remand order. In our opinion, none of the cases, on which learned counsel for the Commissioner has relied, are authority for the proposition that once an assessment is set aside and a remand order made directing fresh assessment then even though the order of the remanding authority confines the jurisdiction of the Sales Tax Officer to a specific field of enquiry it is open to the Sales Tax Officer to proceed beyond that field and traverse the entire range of jurisdiction as if it were an original assessment proceeding. Now, turning to the appellate order before us which remanded the case, we find that the only point in dispute before the Judge (Appeals) related to the calculation of tax in respect of various items and the redetermination of all the amounts appropriated under section 8-A(4). In that context, the Judge (Appeals) set aside the assessment order and remanded the case for fresh assessment "after rechecking the calculations and examining the tax actually collected and realised under section 8-A(4) from the U.P. principals". Here it cannot be said that the remand order directed the Sales Tax Officer to make a fresh assessment and left it open to him to redetermine the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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