Exemption burden on assessee: silver wire was not treated as kalabattu, and assessment survived procedural challenge.

An exemption claim for silver wire failed because "kalabattu" was understood as gold or silver thread made by twisting wire with silk or cotton, not wire simpliciter. The assessee's own statement supported that distinction, so silver wire alone did not squarely fall within the exempted description and the burden of proving exemption was not discharged. The assessment also survived challenge based on information obtained behind the assessee's back, because that material only reinforced an independent conclusion reached from the dictionary meaning and the assessee's own books. The writ petition was therefore unsuccessful.

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Issues: (i) Whether silver wire simpliciter manufactured by the petitioner was covered by the exemption entry for kalabattu under the sales tax notification; (ii) Whether the assessment finding was vitiated because the Sales Tax Officer relied in part on information obtained behind the petitioner's back.

Issue (i): Whether silver wire simpliciter manufactured by the petitioner was covered by the exemption entry for kalabattu under the sales tax notification.

Analysis: The expression kalabattu was held to mean gold or silver thread obtained by twisting gold or silver wire with silk or cotton thread, and not a single strand or wire by itself. The petitioner's own statement showed that silver wire became zari only after being twisted with silk or cotton thread, which supported the conclusion that wire simpliciter was a different commodity from kalabattu. Since exemption must be clearly established by the assessee, the claim that silver wire alone was exempt under the notification failed.

Conclusion: The issue was decided against the assessee; silver wire simpliciter was not exempt as kalabattu.

Issue (ii): Whether the assessment finding was vitiated because the Sales Tax Officer relied in part on information obtained behind the petitioner's back.

Analysis: The additional information obtained by the Sales Tax Officer was only used to reinforce a conclusion already reached independently on the basis of dictionary meaning and the assessee's own books. A finding supported on those independent materials was not invalidated merely because some further information had been consulted without the petitioner's knowledge.

Conclusion: The issue was decided against the assessee; the assessment was not vitiated on this ground.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed because the petitioner did not establish that silver wire alone fell within the exempted category, and no procedural infirmity sufficient to invalidate the assessment was shown.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessee claiming exemption bears the burden of proving that its goods squarely fall within the exempted description, and a finding otherwise is not invalid merely because it was reinforced by extraneous information when it rests independently on admissible grounds.

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