Rectification of wrongly included turnover may be allowed where records show a claimed second inter-State sale exemption.

Where assessment records already contain the books and invoices relating to disputed turnover, an incorrect inclusion of amounts claimed as second sales in the course of inter-State movement may be treated as a rectifiable mistake. The document states that such transactions were said to fall within section 3(b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 and to be exempt under section 6(2), and that rectification under section 55 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act was therefore available. The authority was directed to reconsider each transaction afresh on the evidence and determine whether the turnover was liable to be excluded.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessee could invoke rectification powers in respect of turnover included in the assessment on the footing that the transactions were second sales in the course of inter-State movement and hence exempt, and whether the relevant documents had been before the assessing authority so as to make the alleged error rectifiable.

Analysis: The turnover related to transactions which, on the assessee's version, were inter-State in character and amounted to second sales falling within section 3(b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, and therefore exempt under section 6(2) of that Act. The assessment records showed that the books and invoices relevant to the transactions had been produced before the assessing authority. In those circumstances, the Court treated the alleged wrong inclusion of the turnover as a mistake capable of rectification under section 55 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, subject to the transactions being examined on the evidence and determined as second sales in the course of inter-State movement.

Conclusion: The rectification applications were maintainable and had to be reconsidered afresh by the authority after examining each transaction in the light of the relevant evidence, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the assessment record contains the relevant materials, an incorrect inclusion of turnover said to be exempt as a second inter-State sale may constitute a rectifiable mistake, and the matter can be reopened for fresh consideration on the evidence.

---