Pending registration application does not bar best judgment assessment, but may shield the assessee from penalty for non-application.

Pendency of a registration application under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 protected the assessee from being penalised for not filing a fresh registration application for the next year, because the earlier application remained undecided. However, that pendency did not suspend liability under the charging provisions or bar assessment under section 11(6). Where the assessee failed to produce account books and gave no satisfactory explanation for the material gathered by the assessing authority, a best judgment assessment could still be made on the available evidence. The pending registration application therefore affected only the penalty issue, not the power to assess.

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Issues: (i) Whether an application for registration had to be made for the year 1964-65 when the earlier application for 1963-64 remained undecided. (ii) Whether assessment was maintainable under section 11(6) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 during pendency of the registration application.

Issue (i): Whether an application for registration had to be made for the year 1964-65 when the earlier application for 1963-64 remained undecided.

Analysis: The pendency of the assessee's application for a registration certificate meant that the assessee could not be penalised for not making a fresh application for the subsequent year. The inaction of the assessing authority was treated as conferring the status of a registered dealer for that purpose, but only to the limited extent of avoiding penalty for non-application.

Conclusion: This issue was answered in favour of the assessee and against the revenue.

Issue (ii): Whether assessment was maintainable under section 11(6) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 during pendency of the registration application.

Analysis: Even though the registration application had not been decided, the assessee remained liable under the charging provisions of the Act. Since the assessee failed to produce account books and offered no satisfactory explanation for the evidence collected by the assessing authority, a best judgment assessment was open to be framed on the material available and put to the assessee.

Conclusion: This issue was answered against the assessee and in favour of the revenue.

Final Conclusion: The reference was disposed of by holding that the pending registration application protected the assessee from penalty for non-application, but it did not prevent best judgment assessment under the taxing provisions.

Ratio Decidendi: Pendency of a registration application may preclude penalty for failure to apply afresh, but it does not immunise the assessee from assessment under the charging provisions or from best judgment assessment where books of account are not produced.

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