Prior permission for compounded sales tax assessment is mandatory; benefit cannot be claimed after the year has begun.

A dealer could claim compounded assessment under section 7 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 only by exercising the option and obtaining prior permission from the assessing authority at the start of the year, with advance tax payment in the prescribed manner. Because the assessment year had already commenced and the assessee had not secured the required permission within that year, the benefit could not be claimed later at final assessment. The deletion of rule 15(4-B) reinforced that the compounded scheme was unavailable after the event. The revenue's challenge succeeded, and the assessee was held ineligible for the compounded rate.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to be assessed at the compounded rate under section 7 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, without having exercised the option and obtained prior permission at the beginning of the year.

Analysis: Section 7(2) required a dealer seeking the benefit of assessment under section 7 to apply to the assessing authority for permission and, on being permitted, to pay the tax in advance during the year in the prescribed manner. The assessment year in question had already commenced, and the assessee had not exercised the option or secured the necessary permission within the relevant year. In view of the deletion of rule 15(4-B), the benefit of the compounded scheme could not be claimed at the stage of final assessment after the event.

Conclusion: The assessee was not entitled to the benefit of section 7(1) without prior exercise of the option and prior permission, and the revenue's challenge succeeded.

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