Assessing Officer's independent role under VAT law prevails over Enforcement Wing notices issued without statutory authority.

Under the Tamil Nadu VAT Act, an Enforcement Wing officer could not usurp the assessing officer's statutory role by issuing revision or reassessment notices directly. The inspection report could only serve as a basis for further proceedings, while the assessing officer had to issue the notice, consider the dealer's objections independently, and complete the assessment without being influenced by the Enforcement Wing proposal. On that basis, the notices issued by the Enforcement Wing officer were treated as non est in law and set aside, with the dealer directed to participate in the assessment process before the assessing officer.

---

---

Issues: Whether notices issued by the Enforcement Wing officer under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 could be sustained, and whether the assessing officer was required to decide the objections independently.

Analysis: The Enforcement Wing officer could not usurp the powers of the assessing officer. At the highest, the inspection report could form the basis for further proceedings, but the actual revision notice and assessment had to be issued and completed by the assessing officer. The assessing officer was required to consider the dealer's objections independently and without being influenced by observations in the Enforcement Wing proposal. Since the impugned notices were issued by an lacking the power to initiate the reassessment process in that manner, they could not be enforced.

Conclusion: The notices issued by the Enforcement Wing officer were held to be non est in law and were set aside, while the petitioner was directed to submit objections to the assessing officer's notice and participate in the assessment process.

---