Reopening on anonymous complaint rejected where suspicion alone could not create the required belief of escaped turnover.

Section 21 reopening requires the assessing authority to have a reason to believe, based on relevant material, that turnover has escaped assessment; suspicion, gossip, rumour, or an anonymous complaint alone is insufficient. The belief must be that of a reasonable and prudent person, and material already available at the original assessment does not support reopening without further inquiry. On these facts, the anonymous letter merely created suspicion and could not rationally sustain the statutory belief, so the notice was invalid.

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Issues: Whether a notice under section 21 could be validly issued on the basis of an anonymous complaint which merely created suspicion and did not furnish a reasonable belief that turnover had escaped assessment.

Analysis: Section 21 empowers reopening only where the assessing authority has reason to believe that turnover has escaped assessment. That belief must be that of a reasonable and prudent person and must rest on relevant material, not on suspicion, gossip, or rumour. The anonymous letter relied upon by the Sales Tax Officer did no more than raise a suspicion. The same kind of information had already been available at the time of the original assessment, when no action was taken. Without further inquiry, such material could not rationally generate the statutory belief required for reopening.

Conclusion: A notice under section 21 could not be sustained on the basis of the anonymous complaint, and the question was answered in favour of the assessee.

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