Account books cannot be rejected without evidence of suppression; unverified stock discrepancy and survey non-production were insufficient.

Account books cannot be rejected merely because they were not produced during survey; there must be material showing suppression, defect, withheld records, or unreliability. Here, the assessee had maintained and produced books at assessment, and no unrecorded transactions or suppression were found. The Tribunal's reliance on the presence of family members and an alleged stock discrepancy lacked legal evidence, especially as the survey stock was not objectively counted and the stock register could still have been correct. On these facts, rejection of accounts and best judgment assessment were not sustainable, and the Tribunal's finding was set aside in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the Sales Tax Tribunal was justified in rejecting the assessee's account books and sustaining a best judgment assessment on the grounds of non-production of books at the time of survey and an alleged discrepancy in stock.

Analysis: The assessee had maintained and produced account books at the time of assessment, and there was no finding of suppression, defect, or unrecorded transactions. Non-production of books during survey, by itself, could at most justify closer scrutiny and not rejection of accounts unless there was material showing that the books were withheld with an ulterior motive or were otherwise unreliable. The Tribunal's inference from the presence of family members at the premises and from the alleged stock discrepancy was unsupported by legal evidence. The survey stock was not shown to have been objectively verified by counting the bags, and the possibility that the assessee's stock register reflected the correct position could not be ruled out, especially when the production was also accepted by the Excise Authorities.

Conclusion: The rejection of the account books and the best judgment assessment were not sustainable; the finding of the Tribunal was set aside in favour of the assessee.

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