Belated sales tax returns remain valid for assessment, so best-judgment assessment applies only when no return is filed.

A return filed after the prescribed date remains a valid return under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, and does not lose that character merely because it was late. Where such a return is on record, assessment must proceed under section 33(3) or the other return-based provisions, and not under section 33(5), which is confined to cases where no return has been furnished by the prescribed date. On that construction, Explanation (1) to section 36(2)(c) applies to assessments where a return was furnished and assessed under the return-based provisions, while Explanation (2) applies only where no return was filed at all.

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Issues: Whether returns filed after the prescribed date could still be treated as valid returns for assessment under section 33 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, and whether such assessment attracted Explanation (1) to section 36(2)(c) rather than Explanation (2).

Analysis: The statutory scheme distinguished between cases where a return had been furnished, though belatedly, and cases where no return had been filed at all. A return filed after the prescribed date did not cease to be a return under section 32 read with rule 22, and there was no prohibition against belated filing. Once such a return was on record, assessment had to proceed under section 33(2), 33(3), or 33(4), depending on the facts, and not under section 33(5), which applied only where no return had been furnished by the prescribed date. On that construction, Explanation (1) to section 36(2)(c) governed assessments where returns were furnished and assessed under section 33(3) or 33(4), while Explanation (2) applied to failure to furnish returns at all. The legislative scheme also showed a clear distinction between the two categories of dealers.

Conclusion: The belated returns were required to be assessed under section 33(3) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, and not under section 33(5); Explanation (1) to section 36(2)(c) applied, and the penalty could not be set aside on the ground adopted by the Tribunal.

Ratio Decidendi: A return filed after the prescribed time remains a valid return for assessment purposes, and where such a return is on record the assessment cannot be treated as one under the best-judgment provision meant for cases of no return.

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