Dissolved partnership firm assessability depends on express statutory recognition as a separate taxable entity under sales tax law.

A dissolved partnership firm could be assessed to sales tax only if the governing statute expressly or by clear intendment treated the firm as a separate assessable unit. The court noted that the amendment excluding a firm from the definition of dealer under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 indicated withdrawal of firm status for assessment purposes, and that general definitions could not override that scheme. Registration forms referring to partners, not the firm itself, did not establish independent assessability. The notices and assessments against the dissolved firm were therefore sustained.

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Issues: Whether a dissolved partnership firm could be assessed to sales tax under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

Analysis: The decisive enquiry was whether the statute treated a firm as a separate assessable unit. The earlier exclusion of firm from the definition of dealer under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 as amended showed that the legislature had withdrawn firm status for assessment purposes. The general definition of person in the Bengal General Clauses Act could not override that legislative scheme, because the term firm was not separately included. The forms for registration under the rules also referred to partners, but not to a firm as such, and therefore did not establish an intention to assess the dissolved firm as an independent entity. The registration documents stood in the names of the partners, not the firm, so the alleged dissolution of the firm did not create a separate tax consequence.

Conclusion: A dissolved firm was not shown to be an assessable unit under the relevant sales tax law, and the notices and assessments against it were validly sustained.

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed and the writ petitions remained dismissed, with the assessments against the dissolved firm upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A dissolved partnership firm can be assessed only if the governing sales tax statute expressly or by clear intendment recognises the firm as a separate assessable entity; absent such statutory recognition, assessment must proceed against the partners or other legally cognisable dealer.

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