1972 (10) TMI 104

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....e Act. In that circle there are several Assistant Sales Tax Officers. The assessee-respondent carries on his business in Sector III for which sector there is a separate Assistant Sales Tax Officer. For the assessment year 1959-60, the Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Sector II, issued to the assessee a notice under section 21 of the Act. That notice was served on the assessee on January 17, 1961. After giving an opportunity to the assessee to put forward his case, the Assistant Sales Tax Officer assessed the assessee on a turnover of Rs. 18,000. The assessee preferred an appeal against that order to the Assistant Commissioner (Judicial), Sales Tax. Before that officer, he contended that the Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Sector II, had no j....

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....ns a Sales Tax Officer of a circle appointed by the State Government to perform the duties and exercise the powers of an assessing authority in such circle, and includes an 'Assistant Sales Tax Officer' appointed by the Commissioner, Sales Tax, for such circle, and also includes an officer appointed under rule 3-A of these Rules". If these provisions had stood by themselves there would have been no difficulty in holding that whenever a Sales Tax Officer or an Assistant Sales Tax Officer is appointed to a circle he would have jurisdiction to assess all the dealers in that circle. But then sub-rule (3) of rule 3 provides: "Where there are more than one Sales Tax Officer in a circle, the Commissioner of Sales Tax (hereinafter called the Commis....

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....n has been rejected by the High Court as having no basis. In fact, that contention has not been repeated before us. Mr. Karkhanis, appearing for the department, contended that in view of the provisions referred to earlier, we must hold that all the Assistant Sales Tax Officers in Lucknow Circle had jurisdiction to assess all the dealers in Lucknow Circle. This contention is unacceptable. If we accept that contention, sub-rule (3) of rule 3 becomes otiose. Further rule 6(a) also becomes ineffective. It is for obvious reasons the rule-making authority has empowered the Commissioner to allocate separate areas for separate Assistant Sales Tax Officers. When such an allocation is made, the jurisdiction of each officer is confined to the area all....