Reassessment reopening requires relevant material for a prima facie belief that turnover escaped assessment; sufficiency is not tested at notice stage.

For reopening or reassessment under Section 21 of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948, the authority must have relevant material creating a bona fide prima facie belief that turnover may have escaped assessment; the adequacy or sufficiency of that material is not examined at the notice stage. The Court found that the survey report and the statement recorded during survey constituted relevant material, and treated the petitioner's explanation about another unit as an afterthought. No illegality was shown in the permission granted under Section 21(2), so the reassessment notice was upheld and the writ petitions failed.

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Issues: Whether the initiation of proceedings under Section 21 of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 and the permission granted under Section 21(2) were without jurisdiction for want of relevant material or reason to believe.

Analysis: The writ petitions challenged the reopening notices on the footing that the petitioner's business had already closed and that the survey material was unreliable. The Court held that at the stage of issuing notice or granting permission for reassessment, the only question is whether there is relevant material giving rise to a prima facie inference that turnover may have escaped assessment. The sufficiency of such material is not to be examined at that stage. On the record, the survey report and the statement recorded during survey constituted relevant material. The Court also found the petitioner's explanation regarding another unit to be an afterthought and held that no illegality was shown in the permission order under Section 21(2).

Conclusion: The initiation of reassessment proceedings under Section 21 was valid and the challenge to the notice failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petitions were dismissed, and the reassessment proceedings were left to be decided independently by the assessing authority in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: For reopening or reassessment, the authority need only have relevant material creating a bona fide prima facie belief that turnover has escaped assessment; the adequacy or sufficiency of that material is not justiciable at the notice stage.

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