9911796707
TMI Blog2014 (4) TMI 329X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Tribunal relating to the assessment years 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1993-94. 2. The Tax Case (Revisions) are admitted on the following substantial questions of law: "(i) Whether the Appellate Tribunal as a final fact finding authority is justified in ignoring the evidences produced by the petitioner to show that there was no sale effected by them as shown in the invoices and hence there was no sales suppression? (ii) Whether the Tribunal was correct in coming to the conclusion that there was sale when there was no "goods" bought or sold in the transaction and whether the Tribunal was correct in levying sales tax in the absence of a sale? (iii) Whether the Appellate Tribunal is correct in conforming the levy of tax on the petitioner assumin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the assessee contended that in the absence of movement of goods or sale of goods, there was no basis for assuming that a sale had taken place. In this connection, the assessee placed reliance on the letter dated 18.03.1997 from the Special Recovery Monitoring Cell, Central Office, Indian Bank and supporting affidavits from the companies involved in this transaction. The assessee pointed out that the bills were discounted with Standard Chartered Bank, NSC Bose Road, and the amounts received from the bank was accounted as loan in assessee's books of accounts. Consequently, the question of taxing the transaction did not arise. The Revenue however, contended that the assessee had purchased raw films from Sarada Enterprises, Chennai-17, Phot ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on element of sale. Referring various decisions of this Court, the First Appellate Authority held that even an estimate should closely follow the material and in the absence of any material to link those documents to be a concluded sale, the question of re-opening of assessment did not arise. The First Appellate Authority pointed out that the Assessing Officer had proceeded merely on guess work, surmises and conjectures in making best judgment assessment. Consequently the assessments have to be set aside. 5. When the Revenue went on appeal as against this assessment, the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal pointed out that the burden of proving that there was no sale rested only on the assessee and it was for the assessee to establish that the bi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... same to the purchasers off the record. Considering the fact that at the time of inspection, there were no stock of goods, the contention of the assessee merited acceptance that the invoices were only accommodation invoices and nothing beyond. The assessee further pointed out to the proceedings taken against the Indian Bank and the assessee herein, before the Criminal Court and the charge sheet filed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Central Bureau of Investigation, Bank Securities and Fraud Cell, Bangalore which would categorically establish that the transaction between the bank and the assessee was only a sham transaction and there was no sale of goods effected through the invoices discounted. 8. Considering the above said circumst ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uperintendent of Police, Central Bureau of Investigation, Economic Offences Wing dated 10.03.2014. The said letter reads as under: "Kind attention is invited to the subject and reference cited above. In this connection, it is intimated that the proceedings/statement given by the assessee before the Enforcement Officers of the Commercial Tax Officer is not cited as Exhibit in RC 2/E/98-CBI/BS & FC/BLR (CC 82/2001) pertaining to M/s.Prasad Properties and Investments (P) Ltd., Chennai." Thus, we regretfully note that there is practically no assistance in this matter from the Revenue to place the inspection records or for that matter search records to find out the statement recorded from the assessee, the details of the records recover ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Bank and one of the parties being the assessee herein, we have no hesitation in setting aside the order passed by the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal insofar as the appeals filed by the assessee are concerned. 11. We may also note that in the decision rendered by the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal in STA No.58/99 in the case of one Ravishankar Films (P) Ltd., one of the group concern relating to a similar transaction, the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal noted that in the proceedings initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Indian Bank Authority, in the charge sheet filed it was stated that there was no genuine transaction in all these cases and no goods as per LC documents were actually procured/supplied/transported. Based on t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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