Best judgment assessment fails where registration delay was caused by the tax authority and statutory preconditions were unmet.

Best judgment assessment under section 11(2) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, was held unsustainable where the dealer had applied for registration and the delay in granting the certificate was attributable to the taxing authority. The statutory scheme then in force contemplated assessment on failure to apply for registration, not on mere non-registration caused by administrative delay. The authority also went beyond its limited role by inquiring into irrelevant antecedents instead of deciding the registration application. As the precondition for invoking section 11(2) was not met, the assessing authority lacked jurisdiction and the assessment for the period of withheld registration could not stand.

---

---

Issues: Whether a best judgment assessment under section 11(2) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, was valid when the dealer had applied for registration but the authority delayed grant of registration.

Analysis: At the material time, the statutory scheme did not authorise assessment merely because the dealer had not been registered; it proceeded on the basis of failure to apply for registration. The dealer had in fact applied for registration, and the delay in issuing the certificate was attributable to the taxing authority. The authority also exceeded its limited function by embarking on an unnecessary inquiry into antecedents instead of confining itself to the registration application. In these circumstances, the assessment for the period during which the benefit of registration was wrongly withheld could not be sustained, and the provision as it then stood did not confer jurisdiction for the assessment made.

Conclusion: The assessment was invalid and the orders under challenge were set aside in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statutory precondition for best judgment assessment is not met and the dealer's inability to obtain registration is due to administrative delay, the assessing authority lacks jurisdiction to make the assessment under that provision.

---