Final sales tax assessment valid without separate provisional monthly assessments under a self-contained statutory scheme.

A final yearly sales tax assessment under the Madras General Sales Tax framework is not invalid merely because separate provisional monthly assessments were not made beforehand. The charging and assessment provisions, read with the rules on monthly returns and best-judgment assessment, form a self-contained scheme in which the final stage assessment operates on the statutory basis contemplated by the rules. Provisional monthly assessment is not a condition precedent to jurisdiction for the final assessment, and the court rejected any construction that would let an assessee defeat assessment through its own default.

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Issues: Whether a final yearly assessment under the Madras General Sales Tax (Turnover and Assessment) Rules, 1939 is invalid merely because separate provisional monthly assessments were not made before the final assessment.

Analysis: Section 3 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act is the charging provision and section 9 prescribes the procedure for assessment and collection. Rules 3 and 4 of rule 13 contemplate monthly returns, provisional acceptance of correct returns, and best judgment determination where returns are absent or incomplete. Rule 5 is the final stage of the same assessment scheme and is to be read with rules 3 and 4. The absence of a separate monthly assessment does not destroy the jurisdiction to make the final assessment, because the taxable liability remains based on the monthly returns and the rule does not make provisional monthly assessment a condition precedent. A construction that would allow an assessee to defeat assessment by his own default was rejected as inconsistent with the statutory scheme.

Conclusion: The final yearly assessment was valid notwithstanding the absence of separate provisional monthly assessments, and the contention of the assessees failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute and rules create a self-contained assessment scheme based on monthly returns, the final assessment is not rendered invalid merely because intermediate provisional assessments were not separately completed, so long as the assessment is made on the statutory basis contemplated by the rules.

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