Dissolved firm assessment requires express statutory authority; partner liability alone cannot justify reassessment of pre-dissolution turnover.

Under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 as extended to Delhi, a dissolved firm could not be assessed or reassessed on pre-dissolution turnover unless the statute expressly or by necessary implication provided that power and the requisite assessment machinery. The Court held that the power to tax must arise from the enactment itself; it cannot be supplied by the rules. Rules 39(1) and 39(1A) imposed joint and several liability on partners for tax due from the firm, but did not authorise assessment of a non-existent dissolved firm. The later insertion of section 12F filled the gap prospectively only.

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Issues: Whether, under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 as extended to Delhi and the Delhi Sales Tax Rules, 1951, a dissolved firm could be assessed or reassessed in respect of its pre-dissolution turnover before the insertion of section 12F.

Analysis: The firm was treated as a dealer under section 2(c) read with the General Clauses Act, but the statutory scheme contained no express provision enabling assessment of a dissolved firm after its dissolution. The Court held that the power to assess must be found in the enactment itself and cannot be supplied by the rules. Rule 39(1) and rule 39(1A) only created joint and several liability of partners for tax due from the firm; they did not provide the machinery or legal fiction to assess the dissolved firm. Sections 4, 7, 11, 11A, 16 and 17, read together, also did not disclose any implied power to assess a non-existent firm. The Court relied on the principle that taxing statutes must be strictly construed and that no liability can be enforced without a clear statutory provision, distinguishing the Bombay Act decision where the statute itself contained such intendment.

Conclusion: The dissolved firm could not be assessed or reassessed for its pre-dissolution turnover under the unamended Act; the later insertion of section 12F filled the lacuna prospectively only.

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed because the assessments made after dissolution were without statutory authority, and the pre-amendment law did not preserve the dissolved firm as an assessable entity.

Ratio Decidendi: A dissolved firm cannot be assessed to sales tax for its pre-dissolution turnover unless the taxing statute expressly or by necessary implication provides the power and the necessary assessment machinery; partner liability alone does not authorise assessment of the dissolved firm.

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