Proper appraisal of evidence in sales tax reassessment required; tribunal could not reject mandi certificate on surmise alone.

In a reassessment under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, the Tribunal's rejection of a mandi samiti certificate and related evidence concerning mandi fee payment was found unsustainable because the material was not examined in its proper context. The certificate indicated that the payment represented the balance of the year 1982-83, yet the Tribunal discarded it on a broad assumption that yearly mandi fee details could not relate to the relevant financial year. As the final fact-finding authority, the Tribunal was required to consider all relevant evidence judicially, and the turnover addition based on that inference required fresh reconsideration.

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Issues: Whether the Sales Tax Tribunal was justified in sustaining the reassessment addition of turnover of gur by rejecting the mandi samiti certificate and the related evidence concerning the mandi fee payment.

Analysis: The revision arose from reassessment under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, and the disputed addition of turnover was founded on the inference drawn from the mandi fee payment. The Tribunal discarded the mandi samiti certificate on a broad assumption that yearly mandi fee details were not related to the financial year, without examining the specific contents of the certificate, which indicated that the payment of Rs. 4,166.77 represented the balance of the year 1982-83. As the Tribunal is the final fact-finding authority, it was required to consider all relevant material judicially and could not reject material evidence summarily on surmise and conjecture. The failure to appreciate the certificate in its proper context meant that the factual basis of the addition required reconsideration.

Conclusion: The addition of turnover of Rs. 4,62,200 could not be sustained on the existing appraisal of evidence and the matter had to be remitted to the Tribunal for fresh consideration.

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