Best judgment assessment must be reasonable, with remand for merits consideration and no decision based on surmises.

A best judgment assessment must be made reasonably and cannot rest on surmises. The Supreme Court set aside the impugned order and remanded the sales tax application to the High Court for hearing and disposal on merits, leaving the merits open for consideration without prejudice to either side.

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Issues: Whether the impugned order should be set aside and the sales tax application restored to the High Court for decision on merits, bearing in mind that even a best judgment assessment must be reasonably made and not on surmises.

Analysis: The Court found that the matter was fit to be disposed of by setting aside the challenged order and restoring the sales tax application to the High Court. It observed that a best judgment assessment must be based on reason and not on surmises, and left the merits open for consideration by the High Court without expressing anything further that would prejudice either side.

Conclusion: The order under challenge was set aside and the matter was remanded to the High Court for hearing and disposal on merits, with the observation that best judgment assessment must be reasonably made and not on surmises.

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