Discriminatory tax assessment procedure held unconstitutional where dealers were denied equal appellate safeguards under the Act.

Section 12-A of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 was held void under Article 14 because it allowed escaped turnover to be assessed by different authorities in a manner that produced unequal procedural treatment between similarly situated dealers. A dealer proceeded against by one authority could access the ordinary appellate hierarchy, while a dealer proceeded against under the impugned route was denied the same safeguards, with no rational basis for the distinction. The provision was therefore arbitrary and discriminatory, and the impugned assessment order was liable to be set aside.

---

---

Issues: Whether section 12-A of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957, was unconstitutional for conferring power to assess escaped turnover on different authorities in a manner that produced discriminatory treatment between dealers.

Analysis: The impugned provision enabled escaped turnover to be assessed either by the Commercial Tax Officer, the appellate authority, or the revisional authority. A dealer selected by the Commercial Tax Officer could pursue the ordinary appellate hierarchy, but a dealer proceeded against by the Deputy Commissioner under section 12-A could not obtain the same appellate or revisional remedies available under the Act as it then stood. The result was an incongruous and unequal treatment of dealers similarly situated, with no rational basis for the differential procedural consequences. The section therefore conferred power in a manner that was arbitrary and discriminatory.

Conclusion: Section 12-A, as it then stood, was void as offending Article 14 of the Constitution of India, and the impugned assessment order was liable to be set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory provision that permits selection among similarly situated persons for adverse fiscal action, while denying one class the ordinary appellate safeguards available to others, is discriminatory and unconstitutional under Article 14.

---