9911796707
TMI Blog2020 (1) TMI 577X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ilability of alternative remedy, has filed this present intra Court appeal. 2. Learned counsel for the appellant Assessee Mr.V.Sundareswaran submitted that the Assessee, for the assessment period 2016-17 could not furnish the audit report as required by the newly inserted provisions in the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as 'TNVAT Act') in Section 63A of the Act in prescribed Form No.'WW' for the said assessment period and for which reason, the assessing authority viz., the Assistant Commissioner, Panruti Town, passed the impugned 'best judgment assessment order' dated 01.02.2018, enhancing the taxable turnover by 50% and imposed additional tax at 14.5% thereon. He submitted that besid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arbitrary and high pitched assessment order in the case of the assessee, simply enhancing the taxable turnover by 50% only for the reason of not filing the Audit Report. This he submits, amounts to double jeopardy, enhanced tax liability and penalty for the same violation. 4. Learned counsel for the Revenue Mr.Mohammed Shafiq however supported the impugned order of the learned Single Judge as well as the impugned order passed by the learned assessing authority and he urged that, since the power to pass 'best judgment assessment' could be invoked for the reason of not filing the Audit Report as per the provisions of Section 63A of the TNVAT Act, 2006, therefore, the impugned assessment order could not be assailed directly by way o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... his accounts in respect of that year, audited by an Accountant and submit a report of such audit in the prescribed Form, duly signed and verified by the Accountant, to the assessing authority, within such period as may be prescribed. Explanation.-For the purpose of this section "Accountant" means, a chartered accountant as defined in the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (Central Act 38 of 1949) or a cost accountant as defined in the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959 (Central Act 23 of 1959). (2) If such registered dealer fails to get his accounts audited and submit a report of such audit within the prescribed period, as required in sub-section (1), the assessing authority may, after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard, dire ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... icated in the impugned assessment order dated 04.06.2018 to make such a huge addition to the extent of 50% of the declared turnover and the only averment made in the impugned assessment order is that, since the dealer has not filed the Audit Report in the prescribed Form 'WW', hence an addition of 50% has been added in the declared turnover. This consequence is not provided either in the provisions of Section 22(4) of the Act, which permits the authority to invoke his 'best judgment assessment' powers, nor in Section 63A of the Act, which prescribes for consequence of imposition of penalty of Rs. 10,000/- in case such Audit Report is not furnished by the dealer to the assessing authority. 8. The 'Best Judgment Assessme ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the Constitution of India. Depending upon the peculiarity of the facts of the case arising before the Court, the Court may either choose to interfere in the assessment orders or otherwise may decline to do so. 10. Since in the present case, we found that the yardstick adopted by the learned assessing authority was shockingly arbitrary, we have chosen to interfere in the present case. However, we make it clear that it is not a general proposition of law that we are laying down. We are also not saying that for the reason of not furnishing of the audit report as required by Section 63A of the Act, the assessing authority could not have invoked the 'best judgment assessment' powers under Section 22(4) of the Act. But, since we hav ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
