Verifiable account books cannot be rejected on suspicion alone; best judgment assessment needs proven defects or unreliability.

Regularly maintained and verifiable account books cannot be rejected merely because sales were below the cost or value of goods received from head office, or because trade discount was allowed. The statutory scheme permits best judgment assessment only when returns are incorrect, incomplete, or the accounts are shown to be unreliable. In the absence of specific defects, suppression, or falsity, business discretion in pricing and discounting does not justify discarding the books. The Tribunal's acceptance of the disclosed turnover was upheld, and best judgment assessment was found unwarranted.

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Issues: Whether the account books of the dealer could be rejected and the turnover assessed to best judgment merely because the sale price shown was below the cost/value of goods received from the head office and trade discount had been allowed.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under section 7 and rule 41 permits assessment on the basis of returns where they are correct and complete, and authorises best judgment assessment only where the return is incorrect or incomplete. Section 12 requires true and correct accounts, but does not prescribe any rigid system of account keeping except in the case of a manufacturer. The essential test is whether the sales and purchases are verifiable. Regularly maintained accounts cannot be rejected lightly, and the department must show defects, suppression, or unreliability. The allowance of varying trade discount is a matter of business discretion and, by itself, does not justify rejection of accounts when no specific falsity, suppression, or defect is found.

Conclusion: The account books could not be rejected merely because the goods were sold below the expected price or because trade discount was allowed; best judgment assessment was not warranted. The finding of the Tribunal accepting the books and the disclosed turnover was upheld, and the revision failed.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to rejection of the dealer's accounts was repelled, and the assessment had to rest on the disclosed and verifiable books of account.

Ratio Decidendi: Regularly maintained and verifiable account books cannot be rejected on suspicion alone, and best judgment assessment is permissible only when the returns or accounts are shown to be incorrect, incomplete, or unreliable.

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