Curable defects in Form C declarations require an opportunity to rectify before rejection as invalid.

Clerical mistakes or inadvertent omissions in Form C declarations should not be treated as fatal where the purchasing dealer was in fact registered and the underlying entitlement can be verified. The assessing authority must give the dealer an opportunity to explain the defect and may allow amendment of the form or accept a properly completed duplicate form instead of rejecting the declaration outright. A missing registration number was treated as a curable defect, so invalidation without allowing rectification was impermissible.

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Issues: Whether the assessing authority must give the dealer an opportunity to explain errors or omissions in declarations in Form C before rejecting them as invalid, where the defect is only a clerical mistake or inadvertent omission.

Analysis: The question was answered by applying the principle that a declaration in Form C should not be rejected outright for a curable defect if the authority is satisfied that the purchasing dealer was in fact registered and that the omission was merely clerical. The Court treated the absence of the registration number as a correctable defect and held that the authority could permit amendment of the form or acceptance of a duplicate form properly filled in.

Conclusion: The assessing authority must afford an opportunity to explain such defects before rejecting the declaration as invalid, where the mistake is clerical or inadvertent and a correct certificate could have been issued at the time of the transaction.

Ratio Decidendi: Curable clerical defects or inadvertent omissions in statutory declarations should not lead to rejection without allowing rectification where the underlying entitlement can be verified.

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