Delegated cancellation of registration need not be published in the Gazette before denial of sales tax deduction.

Where power to cancel a registration certificate under section 7(4) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 was delegated to the assessing authority, Gazette publication under rule 12(3) was not required before denial of deduction under section 5(2)(a)(ii). The statutory scheme treated Commissioner-led cancellation differently from cancellation by a delegated authority: section 15 enabled delegation, and rules 12 and 13 required publication only when the Commissioner himself made the final cancellation order after receiving the dealer's particulars. A cancellation made by the assessing authority within delegated powers therefore operated without Gazette publication, and the deduction was not available.

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Issues: Whether, when the power to cancel a registration certificate under section 7(4) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 had been delegated to the assessing authority, the cancellation had to be published in the Official Gazette under rule 12(3) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Rules, 1949 before the selling dealer could be denied deduction under section 5(2)(a)(ii).

Analysis: The statutory scheme distinguished between cancellation by the Commissioner and cancellation by an authority empowered through delegation. Section 15 permitted delegation of the Commissioner's powers, and the power under section 7(4) had in fact been delegated to the assessing authorities. On a plain reading of rules 12 and 13, publication in the Official Gazette was required only where the Commissioner himself was to make the final order of cancellation after receipt of the dealer's particulars. Where the assessing authority was competent to cancel the certificate under delegated power, rule 12 did not impose an obligation to publish the cancellation in the Gazette.

Conclusion: The publication requirement did not apply to cancellations made by the delegated assessing authority, and the assessee was not entitled to the claimed deduction.

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