Best judgment assessment may use electricity consumption to estimate taxable turnover after books are rejected.

Where manufacturing accounts required under Section 12(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act were not maintained, rejection of the books of account justified a best judgment assessment. In such an assessment, some element of guesswork is permissible, and electricity consumption may be taken into account for estimating taxable turnover. The Tribunal's view that the assessment order suffered from no legal infirmity was accepted, and the determination of turnover on that basis was treated as valid.

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Issues: Whether, after rejection of the books of account for -maintenance of manufacturing accounts, the turnover could be determined by best judgment assessment taking into account electricity consumption.

Analysis: The books of account were rejected because the manufacturing accounts required by Section 12(2) of the U. P. Trade Tax Act had not been maintained. Once the books were rejected, the assessment had to proceed on a best judgment basis. In such an assessment, some element of guesswork is permissible, and electricity consumption could be taken into consideration while estimating the taxable turnover. The Tribunal's view that the assessment order did not suffer from legal infirmity was accepted.

Conclusion: The determination of turnover on best judgment basis by considering electricity consumption was held to be valid, and the applicant was not entitled to relief.

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