Voluntary registration under sales tax law is outside default-based assessment provision where tax liability had not yet arisen.

Section 12(5) of the Orissa Sales Tax Act applies only where a dealer has already become liable to tax and, without sufficient cause, failed to seek compulsory registration under section 9. Voluntary registration under section 9-A is available before tax liability arises and is not covered by that default-based assessment provision. The liability to tax under section 4 depends on turnover, not on registration itself, and section 9-A does not convert a voluntary application into a failure to apply for compulsory registration. On this construction, section 12(5) does not govern voluntary registration cases, though the dealer remained liable to assessment for the disputed period.

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Issues: Whether section 12(5) of the Orissa Sales Tax Act applied to a dealer who had applied for voluntary registration under section 9-A, so as to permit assessment to tax for the period between the application and the grant of registration.

Analysis: The liability to tax under section 4 depends on turnover and not on registration. Section 9 deals with compulsory registration once liability arises, while section 9-A, inserted later, provides for voluntary registration where the dealer is not yet liable to tax. Section 12(5) is attracted only where a dealer has already become liable to tax and has nevertheless failed, without sufficient cause, to apply for registration. On the language of the provision, an application for voluntary registration under section 9-A does not fall within section 12(5), because the section contemplates non-application for compulsory registration under section 9 after tax liability has arisen.

Conclusion: Section 12(5) does not govern a case of voluntary registration under section 9-A, and the dealer was liable to assessment for the disputed period.

Ratio Decidendi: A provision imposing assessment on an unregistered dealer for failure to apply for registration applies only where tax liability has already arisen and compulsory registration was not sought without sufficient cause, and it does not extend to voluntary registration made before such liability accrues.

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