Appellate authority may admit late 'C' forms and grant relief where the assessee lacked a fair opportunity to file them earlier.

Where concessional Central Sales Tax treatment depends on production of 'C' forms in the prescribed manner, the appellate authority is not confined to the exact material before the assessing authority at the time of assessment. If the assessee was not given sufficient opportunity to file the forms earlier, the appellate authority may either remand the matter for fresh assessment or itself receive, verify, and act on the forms. The appellate powers under the relevant U.P. Sales Tax law were treated as co-extensive with the assessing authority's powers and extending through the assessment process, so late-produced forms could still be considered for appropriate relief.

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Issues: Whether, where sufficient time was not granted to file 'C' forms and the forms were produced after the assessment order, the appellate authority could consider those forms and grant relief.

Analysis: Under the Central Sales Tax Act, the concessional rate under section 8(1) depends upon production of declaration forms in the prescribed manner. The relevant rules required the forms to be filed in the course of the assessment process, but the appellate powers under section 9(3) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act were wide enough to confirm, reduce, enhance, annul, or set aside the assessment and direct a fresh enquiry. Those powers were treated as co-extensive with the assessing authority's powers and as extending to every process leading to assessment. If the assessing authority failed to grant sufficient opportunity to file the forms, the appellate authority could either remand the matter for fresh assessment or itself receive and verify the forms and grant the appropriate relief. The appellate process was therefore not confined to the material before the assessing authority at the exact moment of assessment.

Conclusion: The appellate authority could validly consider the 'C' forms filed after the assessment when the assessee had not been afforded sufficient opportunity to file them earlier; the question was answered in the affirmative, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the appellate authority's statutory powers are co-extensive with those of the assessing authority, it may itself admit and act upon evidence that should have been considered at assessment, if the assessee was wrongly deprived of a fair opportunity to produce it.

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