Sales tax liability survives partition where the Hindu joint family carried on the taxable business during the relevant period.

Under the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1948, liability attaches to the dealer or assessment unit that carried on the taxable business during the relevant period, not to the time when the assessment order is made. A Hindu joint family that conducted the business remains assessable for turnover already accrued, and a later partition or cessation of family status does not extinguish that liability or defeat assessment and recovery. The later Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957, is treated as declaratory of this position. The document concludes that assessment remains valid despite partition.

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Issues: Whether, for purposes of assessment under the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1948, a Hindu joint family that carried on the taxable business during the relevant period can be assessed after partition and cessation of the family status before the date of assessment.

Analysis: The Act fastens liability on the dealer for the turnover of the relevant year, and the expression "carries on" in the definition of dealer refers to the period when the business was conducted, not to the time when the assessment order is made. The statutory scheme treats the members of a Hindu joint family carrying on business as the real unit of assessment, and the tax liability that has already accrued is not extinguished by a subsequent partition. Construing the Act otherwise would enable dealers to avoid assessment by winding up or partitioning before the assessment is made, which would defeat the charging and assessment provisions. The rule under the later Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957, was treated as declaratory of the correct position and not as creating the liability for the first time.

Conclusion: The assessment was valid notwithstanding the partition, and the challenge to the assessments failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Under a taxing statute of this kind, liability attaches to the person or unit that carried on the taxable business during the relevant period, and a subsequent partition or discontinuance does not defeat the power to assess or recover the tax already incurred.

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