Seizure power under sales tax law cannot extend to duly documented goods merely because they are identical to undocumented stock.

Section 13-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act permitted seizure only of goods reasonably believed to belong to the dealer and to be unaccounted for in business records. Bags of zinc oxide covered by a goods receipt and otherwise accounted for could not be treated as unaccounted goods merely because they were identical to the undocumented bags and could not be physically distinguished. The authority could seize only the portion lacking transport documents and supported by no accounting material. Seizure of the entire consignment was therefore partly without jurisdiction, and release of the excess seized goods was warranted.

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Issues: Whether the seizing authority had jurisdiction under section 13-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Act to seize all 80 bags of zinc oxide when only 40 bags were unsupported by transport documents and the remaining 40 bags were covered by a goods receipt and were otherwise accounted for.

Analysis: Section 13-A empowered seizure only of goods found in a vehicle or other place when the officer had reason to believe that they belonged to the dealer and were not accounted for in the dealer's books, registers or other documents. The 40 bags covered by the goods receipt were admittedly accompanied by proper documents and there was no material to show that they were not accounted for in the petitioner's business records. The mere fact that the bags were identical and could not be physically differentiated did not convert the duly documented consignment into unaccounted goods. The authority could seize only the portion reasonably believed to be outside the books, and the absence of markings did not justify seizure of the entire consignment. The officer who had seized the goods remained in possession of them and could be directed to return the goods seized in excess of authority.

Conclusion: The seizure of all 80 bags was partly without jurisdiction. Only 40 bags could validly be seized, and the petitioner was entitled to release of any 40 bags from out of the 80 seized bags.

Ratio Decidendi: Under section 13-A, seizure is limited to goods reasonably believed to belong to the dealer and to be unaccounted for, and properly documented goods cannot be seized merely because they are indistinguishable from other goods found in the same vehicle.

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