Best judgment assessment upheld where seized records and concurrent findings showed unreliable accounts and factual inferences, not a question of law.

Questions raised under section 41 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act were treated as pure questions of fact because they arose from concurrent findings based on seized pocket books and other material showing coded purchases and sales in fictitious names. The authorities rejected the dealer's explanation, found the accounts unreliable, and upheld rejection of the books with best judgment assessment and estimated additions. The High Court held that the challenge merely sought to reopen factual inferences, and the plea that depot sales had already suffered tax did not convert the dispute into a question of law. The revisions therefore failed and no referable question of law arose.

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Issues: Whether the questions raised under section 41 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 were pure questions of fact arising from concurrent findings based on seized records and other material, and whether the assessment and estimated additions were liable to be interfered with.

Analysis: The assessment authorities and the appellate authorities consistently found that the seized pocket books contained coded entries showing purchases from Trichy Steel Rolling Mills in fictitious names and corresponding sales in Kerala. The explanation offered for the code language was rejected as unsatisfactory, and the accounts were found unreliable, justifying rejection of the books and resort to best judgment assessment. The Court held that the challenge to the assessment turned entirely on factual inferences drawn from the seized documents and supporting material. The contention that sales through depots had already suffered tax did not convert the controversy into a question of law, and the plea against the quantum of addition was also an attempt to reopen factual findings.

Conclusion: The questions did not give rise to any referable question of law under section 41, and the revisions failed.

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