Valid tax assessment bars criminal court from reopening liability; failure to pay assessed arrears sustained conviction.

A commission agent was held not to escape liability merely by claiming to be outside the definition of dealer, as the Full Bench view displaced the earlier contrary approach. Once sales tax liability had been validly assessed for the relevant period, the criminal court could not reopen the assessment or treat it as invalid in proceedings under the penal provision. On that basis, failure to pay the assessed arrears sustained conviction under Section 15(b) of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, and the acquittal could not stand; conviction and sentence were restored.

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Issues: Whether the accused could be convicted for failure to pay sales tax arrears under Section 15(b) of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, and whether the criminal court could examine the validity of the assessment.

Analysis: The acquittal was based on two grounds: that the accused was a commission agent and not a dealer, and that the assessment itself ought not to have been levied. The earlier view treating a commission agent as outside the definition of dealer had been displaced by the Full Bench decision relied on by the State. As to the assessment, the criminal court was not entitled to reopen the liability once the assessment had been levied for the relevant period, and the observations relied upon by the Magistrate did not furnish a lawful basis for holding the assessment invalid.

Conclusion: The acquittal could not be sustained, and the accused was liable to conviction under Section 15(b).

Final Conclusion: The order of acquittal was set aside and the conviction and sentence were restored, with the sales tax arrears directed to be recovered as fine.

Ratio Decidendi: Where tax liability has been validly assessed and the criminal court has no jurisdiction to reopen that assessment, failure to pay the assessed tax can sustain conviction under the penal provision of the sales tax law.

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