TMI Blog1971 (5) TMI 63X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... seizure of documents. Sri Raja Ram Agarwal, counsel for the petitioners, has raised these points: (i) the search and seizure of documents, having been made by an Assistant Sales Tax Officer, is illegal; (ii) the administrative instructions issued by the Commissioner of Sales Tax on 1st April, 1967, are illegal; and (iii) the information elicited from the seized documents cannot be used as evidence in the assessment proceedings against them. We shall examine these arguments serially. As regards the first point, it is not disputed that the search and seizure of documents was made by an Assistant Sales Tax Officer. In Agrawal Engineering Stores v. State of Uttar Pradesh[1971] 28 S.T.C. 507; 1971 A.L.J. 447., it was held by a Full ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Executive) would have to exercise greater control on the assessing authorities with a view to ensure that all available data has been utilised by the assessing authority and in that event minimise the chances of under-assessment." The assessing authority constituted under the Act is a quasi-judicial authority. He is to act on his self-dependent and self-guided judgment. No outside authority can control or sway his judgment. The administrative instructions, which we have summarized earlier, abridge the independent judgment of the assessing authority. Accordingly we are of opinion that the administrative instructions are illegal. The assessing authority should not be guided by the instructions and should make orders under the Act in the lig ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has also referred us to certain passages in 29 American jurisprudence (2d) paragraphs 410, 411, 412 and 415 at pages 469, 470, 471, 472 and 474. These paragraphs summarize the effect of various decisions of the U.S.A. Supreme Court. In paragraph 411 it is stated that recently the U.S.A. Supreme Court has been proceeding on the theory that the exclusionary rule was announced by that court in the Weeks case(1), in exercise of its supervisory power over the administration of criminal justice in the federal courts. It seems to us that this theory will not explain the extension of the exclusionary rule to the States. The exclusionary rule applies to State courts on account of the Due Process Clause. So, in our judgment, the exclusionary rule in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ried." The question was again considered by the Privy Council in Herman King v. The Queen[1968] 3 W.L.R. 391. The argument there was that the evidence illegally obtained against the accused should be excluded as it was obtained in violation of the constitutional rights secured by the Jamaican Constitution. Rejecting the argument Lord Hudson said: "This constitutional right may or may not be enshrined in a written Constitution, but it seems to their Lordships that it matters not whether it depends on such enshrinement or simply upon the common law as it would do in this country. In either event the discretion of the court must be exercised and has not been taken away by the declaration of the right in written form." The law on the poin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be quashed; (ii) the Sales Tax Officer should be restrained from utilizing the confidential report submitted by the 4th respondent in the assessment proceedings against the petitioners; and (iii) any other suitable writ, order or direction as this court may deem fit and proper in the case be issued. Having regard to the view taken by us on the third question raised before us we cannot grant the first two reliefs. We think that the purpose of the petitioners would be served if it is declared that the search and seizure of documents effected by the 4th respondent was illegal. As we have already held that the administrative instructions issued by the Commissioner of Sales Tax are illegal, we think we should issue a direction to the Sales ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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