Best judgment assessment under sales tax law does not always require prior written notice when no return is filed.

Section 10 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 was analysed to clarify that, where no return is filed under section 7 read with rule 25, the assessing authority may make a best judgment assessment after such inquiry as it considers necessary. The proviso requiring a reasonable opportunity applies only when a return has been filed and its correctness is disputed. Likewise, the notice requirement in section 10(2) is confined to cases where a return exists and the authority seeks the dealer's presence or evidence to test it. Fairness remains required, but a prior written notice is not invariably mandatory before a best judgment assessment in a no-return case.

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Issues: Whether, in making a best judgment assessment under section 10 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, a written notice was ly required to be issued to an assessee who had not filed any return under section 7 read with rule 25 of the Rules.

Analysis: Section 10(1)(b) applies where no return has been submitted and empowers the assessing authority to make such inquiry as it considers necessary before assessing tax to the best of its judgment. The proviso to that clause, requiring a reasonable opportunity, is confined to cases where a return has been filed and its correctness is in question. By contrast, the notice provision in section 10(2) also operates only where a return has been submitted and the authority seeks the dealer's presence or evidence to test its correctness. Although the inquiry under section 10(1)(b) must be fair, fairness does not invariably mean that a prior written notice is mandatory in every case of best judgment assessment.

Conclusion: A written notice was not necessary before making the best judgment assessment where no return had been filed.

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