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TMI Blog1976 (8) TMI 148X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s tax by the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer on 15th September, 1968. The said officer granted exemption to the appellant from payment of sales tax on his entire turnover of coal on the ground that they were second sales in this State. While so, on 25th August, 1972, the Deputy Commissioner issued a notice to the appellant under section 20 of the Act stating that he had purchased the railway receipts in respect of the turnover for coal while the goods were in transit in a common carrier, paid the freight charges, and took delivery of the goods direct from the common carrier and, therefore, he became the first dealer, who sold the goods in the State. The Deputy Commissioner wanted to revise the assessment order passed by the Deputy Commercial ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oner and, therefore, his order is bad. My learned brother Raghuvir, J., held that that contention was not tenable and dismissed the writ petition. In this appeal it is argued by Sri S. Dasaratharama Reddi, learned counsel for the appellant, that under section 20 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, the Deputy Commissioner while exercising the powers of revision is bound to give a personal hearing to the appellant since the proceedings are quasi-judicial. Stated in that broad terms, I am not prepared to agree with him. Section 20 of the Act empowers the Deputy Commissioner to call for and examine the record of any order passed or proceeding recorded by any authority, officer or person subordinate to him, under the provisions of thi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as of right, to claim personal hearing under this section. From the decisions of the Supreme Court in Mineral Development Ltd. v. State of BiharA.I.R. 1960 S.C. 468., Kapur Singh v. Union of IndiaA.I.R. 1960 S.C. 493. and M.P. Industries Ltd. v. Union of IndiaA.I.R. 1966 S.C. 671., the following two propositions emerge while deciding the question as to whether a personal hearing should be given or not in a quasijudicial proceeding. It is held by the Supreme Court that first, giving personal hearing is not necessarily an ingredient of the principles of natural justice and, secondly, whether a personal hearing should be given or not should be decided on the facts of each case. The learned Government Pleader has argued that it is not necessa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... are not clear and they are also disputed. If so, the applicability of section 3 of the Central Sales Tax Act cannot be taken for granted to the facts of this case. With regard to the legal contention raised by the learned Government Pleader, I have to state that merely because sub-section (4) of section 20 of the Act does not say in terms that a person should be heard, it does not mean that he should not be heard. It is not disputed that the proceedings under section 20 of the Act are quasi-judicial. As stated by us already the assessee cannot claim as of right a personal hearing under the section, but it does not mean that no personal hearing should be given to him. The difference in the language between section 19(3) and section 21(4) a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on more on a question of law that the goods in question were in transit and they were purchased by the appellant by taking transfer of the railway receipts. He should not have decided that question without giving an opportunity to the appellant to be heard in person. Lastly, by allowing the revision the appellant was compelled to pay additional tax which is certainly a burden upon him. Therefore, on the facts of this case, I hold that the Deputy Commissioner should have given a personal hearing to the appellant before disposing of the revision. It is argued by the learned Government Pleader that by remitting the matter to the Deputy Commissioner to give a personal hearing to the appellant, the revision may get barred by limitation under su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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