Bank return requisition under sales tax law must relate to a specified dealer; blanket demands exceed statutory power.

Section 13-B of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act and rule 56-A were confined to obtaining information from a scheduled bank relating to a specified dealer and a particular assessment. They did not authorise a blanket demand for monthly returns covering all dealers in a circle. Because the impugned order failed to identify any dealer and proceeded on an overbroad basis, it exceeded the statutory scheme and was inconsistent with article 14. The writ petition succeeded, and the demand for returns was quashed.

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Issues: Whether section 13-B of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 and rule 56-A of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Rules, 1957 authorized a blanket demand for monthly returns from a scheduled bank in relation to all dealers in a circle, and whether the impugned order was liable to be quashed as violative of section 13-B and article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: Section 13-B enabled the assessing authority to call for monthly returns from a scheduled bank only for information connected with a dealer and a particular assessment. The provision did not confer a general power to require a bank to furnish particulars of all dealers across an entire circle. Read with rule 56-A, the provision was treated as a limited procedural aid to assessment and not as an unreasonable restriction. The impugned order, however, did not identify any dealer and proceeded on a blanket basis, which exceeded the statutory scheme and could not be supported under section 13-B.

Conclusion: The impugned order was beyond the scope of section 13-B and was rightly quashed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded, and the bank obtained relief against the impugned demand for returns.

Ratio Decidendi: A power to call for returns from a bank under a sales tax statute is confined to information relating to a specified dealer or assessment and does not authorize a blanket requisition covering all dealers in a circle.

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