Entry powers under sales tax law do not include recording assessee statements unless expressly authorised by statute.

Section 14(3) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 confers only entry powers linked to inspection, countersigning, seizure and retention of accounts and documents under the provision's other sub-sections. It does not authorise the Assessing Authority to record an assessee's statement for determining assessability, and that power cannot be implied from the section's text. The stated legal position is that a fiscal statute's inspection or entry power cannot be extended to statement-recording unless the statute expressly or by necessary implication permits it.

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Issues: Whether the Assessing Authority had power under section 14(3) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 to record the statement of an assessee for the purpose of determining liability to assessment.

Analysis: Section 14 dealt with production and inspection of accounts and documents. Sub-section (1) authorised requisition of accounts, documents and information and permitted adverse inference on non-compliance. Sub-section (2) empowered inspection and countersigning of accounts and documents. Sub-section (2A) authorised seizure and retention of records by the Commissioner. Sub-section (3) merely conferred entry powers for the purposes of sub-sections (2) and (2A). The provision did not confer any authority to record statements of a dealer, and such a power could not be read into the section.

Conclusion: The Assessing Authority had no power under section 14(3) to record the statement of the assessee for determining assessability. The question was answered in the negative, in favour of the assessee and against the revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: A power of inspection or entry under a fiscal statute cannot be expanded to include recording statements unless the statute expressly or by necessary implication grants that authority.

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