9911796707
TMI Blog1983 (6) TMI 171X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessee is the proprietor of Balamurugan Oil Mill, Madurai. He has purchased gingerly seeds both from inside and outside the State, manufactured gingerly oil and oil cake and sold them both locally and outside the State. He has also purchased gingerly oil cake from unregistered dealers and sold them on consignment basis to dealers outside the State. The assessing authority determined the assessee's total and taxable turnovers at Rs. 12,22,362.00 and Rs. 11,92,505 for the year 1979-80 as against the reported total and taxable turnovers of Rs. 6,84,341 and Rs. 6,76,370 respectively. As against the said assessment, the assessee appealed before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the Appellate Assistant Commissioner refixed the taxable t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ified in not interfering with the rate of tax adopted by the lower authorities. Admittedly, in this case the assessing authority applied the rate of 3½ per cent for the purchase of gingerly oil cake taxable under section 7-A of the Act. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner, on appeal, also applied the same rate of 3½ per cent to the said turnover. When the matter came before the Tribunal, the Tribunal merely reduced the taxable turnover by Rs. 20,000. When the State is aggrieved against the order of assessing authority as well as the Appellate Assistant Commissioner in applying the wrong rate of 3½ per cent as against the correct rate of 4 per cent in relation to the turnover under section 7-A of the Act, the State shou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... orities is wrong, then the Tribunal can suo motu interfere with the order of the appellate authority and it can do so only on an enhancement petition filed by the State. As a matter of fact, if the Tribunal finds or it is brought to the notice of the Tribunal by the State that the order of the lower authorities is wrong, then the Tribunal can suo motu interfere with that order under appeal before it. For the Tribunal can either give relief to the assessee on his appeal or refuse to give relief. But it cannot pass an order in favour of the revenue. As a matter of fact, sub-section (3)(a) of section 36 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, specifically provides for such a situation. The said provision enables the Tribunal to pass an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ered to enhance the tax rate, it cannot be said that the Tribunal can enhance the assessment suo motu without any application filed by the State for enhancement. The fact that the said section gives power to the Tribunal to enhance, cannot mean that the Tribunal can suo motu enhance the assessment without any application in that behalf by the State so as to pass an order prejudicial to the assesseeappellant. Admittedly, in this case the State did not file any petition for enhancement invoking the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to enhance the assessment. Normally if such a petition for enhancement is not filed, the Tribunal's jurisdiction is only to deal with the grounds of appeal and pass an order prejudicial to the assessee. But if an enhanc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al to the assessee, the assessee should be given a reasonable opportunity to put forward his case with reference to the proposed enhancement." The learned Judges in that case further observed: "Neither in the Act nor in the Rules made thereunder there is any provision for the revenue formally filing an enhancement petition. However, as the power to enhance the assessment is vested in the Tribunal itself, the procedure of filing an enhancement petition is merely by way of putting the assessee on notice that in the appeal preferred by the assessee the revenue is going to request the Tribunal to enhance the assessment." In this case, as already stated, no such enhancement petition was filed by the State before the Tribunal, nor was it brough ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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