https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=378960 Prior recording of reasons by the Commissioner under Section 55(1) of the Madhya Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2002 was a mandatory precondition before directing search and investigation. The Court held that the statutory requirement of forming and recording a reasoned belief of tax evasion was a substantive safeguard, not a procedural formality. As no recorded reasons were produced to justify the authorisation, the foundational condition for exercise of power failed. The search-based assessment and appellate orders were therefore vitiated and quashed, and the assessee succeeded on the first substantial question of law. en-us Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0530 Thu, 25 Apr 2019 06:25:49 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=378960 Prior recording of reasons by the Commissioner under Section 55(1) of the Madhya Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2002 was a mandatory precondition before directing search and investigation. The Court held that the statutory requirement of forming and recording a reasoned belief of tax evasion was a substantive safeguard, not a procedural formality. As no recorded reasons were produced to justify the authorisation, the foundational condition for exercise of power failed. The search-based assessment and appellate orders were therefore vitiated and quashed, and the assessee succeeded on the first substantial question of law. Case-Laws VAT and Sales Tax Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=378960