Independent application of mind is required before using a sales tax clarification to reopen concluded assessments.

A clarification issued under sales tax law cannot be mechanically applied to reopen or revise concluded assessments where the assessing authority is required to make an independent decision on the record. If the clarification does not disclose its basis and the dealer's objections are not independently examined, an assessment order that merely adopts the clarification shows lack of proper application of mind. In such circumstances, the clarification itself need not be quashed, but the assessment orders founded solely on it are unsustainable and liable to be set aside.

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Issues: Whether a clarification issued under the sales tax statute could be mechanically applied to revise or reopen the petitioner's concluded assessments, and whether the assessment orders founded solely on that clarification were sustainable.

Analysis: The clarification was not issued at the instance of the petitioner and, on the record, the assessing authority was required to take an independent decision on the materials before it. The clarification itself did not disclose the circumstances or basis for its issue, and the earlier clarification concerning the same commodity showed a contradictory treatment for different periods. Since the objections raised by the dealer were not independently examined and the assessment orders merely adopted the clarification, the assessing authority acted without properly applying its own mind. The clarification could not, therefore, be treated as automatically binding so as to justify reopening or revising the petitioner's finalized assessments.

Conclusion: The clarification could not be mechanically applied against the petitioner, and the assessment orders based solely on it were unsustainable and liable to be quashed.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the clarification did not require its quashing, but the assessments founded on it were invalid, resulting in relief to the assessee in respect of the assessment orders.

Ratio Decidendi: A clarification issued under the sales tax law does not bind the assessing authority so as to displace independent adjudication, and it cannot by itself justify reopening or revising a completed assessment unless the authority applies its own mind to the relevant facts and objections.

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