Provisional turnover fixation requires Rule 15 compliance; recovery of balance tax stayed until final assessment.

Provisional fixation of turnover was found unsustainable where the return was not accepted but the Sales Tax Officer failed to require production of account books as mandated by Rule 15 of the General Sales Tax Rules. The Court treated that omission as rendering the provisional assessment unwarranted and arbitrary, while leaving the officer free to correct the error at the final assessment stage. Recovery of the balance tax was restrained until finalisation of the assessment, so the assessee remained protected from collection action pending completion of the statutory process.

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Issues: Whether the provisional fixation of turnover was sustainable when the return was not accepted without requiring production of account books as contemplated by the sales tax rules, and whether recovery of the balance tax could be restrained pending final assessment.

Analysis: Rule 15 of the General Sales Tax Rules required the Sales Tax Officer, if he was not prepared to accept the return, to call upon the assessee to produce his account books to substantiate the return. That procedure was not followed. The provisional fixation was therefore held to be unwarranted and arbitrary. At the same time, the Court left it open to the Sales Tax Officer to correct the mistake while making the final assessment, and directed that no attempt be made to collect the balance tax pending finalisation of the assessment.

Conclusion: The provisional order was held unsustainable for non-compliance with Rule 15, and the assessee was protected against recovery of the balance tax until the assessment was finalised.

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