TMI Blog1977 (12) TMI 122X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, hereinafter referred to as "the Act", some portions of the turnovers have escaped assessment and that he proposes to assess them on the escaped turnovers and to file objections, if they have got any, on 24th January, 1977, at 11 a.m. in his office. On receipt of the notices, questioning the jurisdiction of the Commercial Tax Officer to reassess, the assessees have filed these two civil revision petitions. The Commercial Tax Officer seeks to assess the escaped turnovers for the year 1973-74 invoking the provisions contained in section 14(4) of the Act. The assessees in both the C.R.Ps. are dealers in textiles and cotton yarn doing business at Ekambarakuppam, Chittoor District. For the year 1973-74, th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... branch offices at Madras and transferred from their head offices at Ekambarakuppam to their branch offices at Madras. M/s. Andavar Textiles had transferred stock of cotton yarn valued at Rs. 8,81,263.05 and the petitioner's sales to them during the year were Rs. 3,12,145.00 and, similarly, M/s. A.M.K.V.R. Ramaswamy Chettiar and Co. had transferred cotton yarn worth Rs. 19,93,067.97 and the petitioner's sales to them during that year were Rs. 2,601. In the above circumstances, the petitioner was the last seller liable to pay tax because there were no subsequent sales in the State by the purchasers. Therefore, as the claim for exemption of a total turnover of Rs. 4,27,564 has been found to have escaped assessment to tax, he proposes to asses ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate, the assessing authority may, after issuing a notice to the dealer, and after making such enquiry as he may consider necessary, by order, setting out the grounds therefor(a) determine to the best of judgment the turnover that has escaped assessment and assess the turnover so determined; (b) assess the correct amount of tax payable on the turnover that has been under-assessed; (c) assess at the correct rate the turnover that has been assessed at a lower rate; ....." According to the learned counsel for the petitioners, the exempted turnover which the Commercial Tax Officer now seeks to assess cannot be said to be the turnovers that have escaped assessment or have been underassessed or have been assessed at a lower rate and, there ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... section 20 of the Act, it is provided in that section that the authority concerned can call for and examine the record of any order or proceeding recorded by any authority subordinate to it under the provisions of the Act, for the purpose of satisfying itself as to the legality or propriety of such order or as to the regularity of such proceeding and may pass such order in reference thereto as it thinks fit. Thus, a revisional authority can only examine the record of the order passed by the subordinate authority and it cannot go beyond it. So far as the records go, the exemptions granted by the assessing authority would appear to be perfectly valid since what would all appear from the records and the assessment orders is that the exempted t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the General Sales Tax Rules framed under that Act, which is similar to the present section 14(4) of the Act, where power is given for assessment of escaped turnovers in which case it would be barred by time. There the turnover in question was before the assessing authority. There is no inadvertence on the part of the authority in not assessing that turnover. But he did not tax the turnover stating that "the stock of pepper and ginger available is not liable to tax because they have been sold subsequently". But, as a matter of fact, the stock was sold in the year of assessment, but not subsequently. That was a mistake which was apparent on the face of the record. That was not a mistake which was discovered on account of any subsequent inf ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Commercial Taxes to assess escaped turnover does not arise out of revisional jurisdiction. In exercising the revisional jurisdiction, the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes will be restricted to the examination of the record for determining whether the order of assessment was according to law and, therefore, the assessment made by the Deputy Commissioner on the escaped turnover exercising his revisional authority after issuing a notice is without jurisdiction. In decided cases, no doubt, the High Courts took the view that where the turnover was before the assessing authority and was expressly exempted by him under the original assessment order, it could not be said that that turnover was an escaped turnover. The principle would apply ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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