Independent consideration of dealer objections is mandatory; mechanical reliance on an enforcement report invalidates the assessment order.

An assessment order under the tax statute must reflect independent application of mind to the dealer's objections and supporting records; mechanical reliance on an enforcement wing report is invalid. Here, the authority did not examine the dealer's explanation, purchase registers, breakup details, or other materials called for in the notice, and the objections were not meaningfully considered. The denial of an effective personal hearing also vitiated the assessment. The assessment orders were therefore unsustainable and were quashed, with a direction to redo the assessment after considering the objections, records, cited decision, and after affording personal hearing.

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Issues: Whether the assessment orders were liable to be quashed for failure to consider the dealer's objections and supporting records, and for proceeding mechanically on the enforcement wing's report.

Analysis: The objections filed by the dealer were not dealt with in the assessment orders. The authority merely referred to earlier decisions and proceeded to complete the assessment without examining the dealer's explanation, the purchase registers, the breakup details furnished, or the effect of the materials called for in the notice. An assessing authority is required to apply an independent mind to the objections and materials before it, and cannot abdicate that function by mechanically following an enforcement report. The denial of meaningful consideration of the objections and the failure to grant an effective personal hearing vitiated the assessment.

Conclusion: The assessment orders were unsustainable and were quashed, with a direction to redo the assessment after considering the objections, records, and the cited decision, and after affording personal hearing.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment order under the tax statute must be supported by independent consideration of the dealer's objections and relevant materials, and a mechanical reliance on the enforcement wing's report without application of mind is invalid.

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