Retention of seized tax records depends on a timely decision to prosecute and does not bar the assessee's right to copies.

Section 28(6) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 permits retention of seized books and documents beyond thirty days only if they are required for prosecution and a decision to prosecute is taken within that period, or if retention is validly authorised within the statutory time limit. The provision also sets an outer limit of sixty days from seizure for such retention. Even where documents are retained for prosecution, the assessee does not lose the right to obtain authenticated copies of the seized records.

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Issues: Whether documents seized under Section 28(6) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 could be retained beyond thirty days without a decision to prosecute being taken within that period, and whether the assessee was entitled to return of the documents and copies thereof.

Analysis: The provision permits retention of seized books and documents beyond thirty days only when they are required for prosecution, and the expression "required for any prosecution" necessarily contemplates that a decision to prosecute must be reached within the statutory period. The alternative route of retention beyond thirty days is available only with the permission of the next higher authority, and in any event the outer limit is sixty days from the date of seizure. The assessee does not forfeit the right to obtain authenticated copies merely because the documents are retained for prosecution. On the admitted facts, no decision to prosecute had been taken within thirty days of seizure.

Conclusion: The retention of the documents was unsustainable for want of a timely decision to prosecute, and the assessee was entitled to return of the seized documents and to take copies, while the prosecution proceedings themselves were not interdicted.

Ratio Decidendi: Under Section 28(6) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, seized documents can be retained beyond thirty days only if a decision to prosecute is taken within that period or valid permission is obtained within the statutory limit, and the assessee remains entitled to copies of the seized records.

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