TMI Blog1969 (11) TMI 73X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er was dismissed. In further appeal before the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, the action of the assessing authority in rejecting the accounts was upheld, but the Appellate Tribunal felt that the addition of 10 per cent. to the turnover as such could not be justified. It directed the assessment to be modified on the basis of the electric current consumption. According to the Tribunal, the current consumption indicated that the petitioner would have crushed 2792 quintals of copra, whereas the petitioner had accounted only for 2567 quintals. The Tribunal directed the addition of the sale value of oil and cake produced from 225 quintals of copra representing the difference. 2.. The contention raised before us is that the authorities below were ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat the real ground on which it justified the rejection of accounts is the variation in the consumption of electricity. Therefore, the question that arises for consideration is whether the variation in the consumption of electricity can by itself be taken as sufficient for discrediting the accounts. 4.. The learned counsel for the petitioner brought to our notice the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in N. Raja Pullaiah v. Deputy Commercial Tax Officer[1969] 24 S.T.C. 90; 73 I.T.R. 224. and contended that the consumption of electricity by itself cannot form a reliable test for determining the yield of oil, that the yield depends upon various factors like the condition of the machine, the quality of copra-whether it was dried or mo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ejection of accounts and assessment to the best of judgment are two distinct and separate processes and should not be confused as one, although there will be no overlapping in the materials used for applying both processes. The initial step of rejecting the accounts will be justified when the account books are found for valid reasons unreliable, incorrect or incomplete. The assessee at this stage has to be given reasonable opportunity for offering explanations regarding the defects in the accounts and on his failure to satisfactorily explain the defects, the department will be justified in rejecting the accounts. The subsequent step of assessment to the best of judgment, as has been uniformly recognised by the courts, involves some guess-wo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the assessee. It is unsafe to categorically say that because there is variation in the consumption of electricity the accounts are incorrect or unreliable. It sometimes happens that current supply falls far below the usual voltage and on such occasions the output will necessarily be much lower than the normal rate. The efficiency of the crushing machine as also the moisture content in the copra would also be relevant factors to be taken into account in arriving at the output. It is, therefore, unsafe to uphold the rejection of the accounts purely on the ground that there has been divergence in the consumption of electricity. In this case, there is also the additional circumstance that the department itself has admitted variations ranging f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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