Best judgment reassessment fails where escaped turnover is based on unsupported electricity apportionment and no rational material.

A best judgment reassessment of escaped turnover under section 12-A of the Mysore Sales Tax Act must rest on disclosed material and a rational basis. Although some guess-work is permitted, the assessing authority cannot sustain an enhanced assessment on an unsupported apportionment of electricity consumption to the oil-mill business without explaining why the dealer's contrary explanation was rejected. The authority must first establish a basis for concluding that turnover escaped assessment, and the burden does not shift to the dealer to disprove an unreasoned estimate. The reassessment was therefore unsustainable and was rightly set aside.

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Issues: Whether a reassessment of escaped turnover under section 12-A of the Mysore Sales Tax Act based on a best judgment estimate founded on electricity consumption could be sustained when the order disclosed no material or reasoned basis for attributing the consumption to the oil-mill business.

Analysis: A best judgment assessment may involve some guess-work, but the estimate must still be rational, reasonable, and supported by material. The reassessing authority had indicated in the notice that 50% of the electrical energy might be attributed to the oil-mill, but the final order did not disclose any material supporting that hypothesis, nor did it explain why the dealer's explanation was rejected. In proceedings for escaped turnover, the authority invoking section 12-A must first establish a basis for the conclusion that turnover has escaped assessment; the burden does not shift so as to require the dealer to disprove an unreasoned estimate. An unsupported assumption about apportionment of electricity across three businesses could not justify the enhanced assessment.

Conclusion: The reassessment was unsustainable and was rightly set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: A best judgment reassessment of escaped turnover must rest on disclosed material and a rational basis, and the burden of justifying the escapement cannot be reversed onto the dealer by an unsupported estimate.

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