1962 (5) TMI 19

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....ation, as interpreted by this Board or any specific interval of time? (ii) Whether any part of the assessment made by the Assistant Sales Tax Officer under his order of 2nd June, 1955, is barred by limitation?" 2.. The facts giving rise to this petition may be briefly stated. The petitioner, who is a dealer, did not get himself registered under the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947 (hereinafter called the Act), though he was liable to pay tax thereunder. On 26th June, 1950, a notice under section 11(5) of the Act in Form XII for the period 1st June, 1947, to 26th June, 1950, was issued to the dealer and he received it on 4th July, 1950. An enquiry was held and, thereupon, on 21st June, 1954, a fresh notice under section ....

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....ime within three calendar years from the expiry of such period". While it is urged on behalf of the revenue that the period, which is not defined in the Act, means the entire period during which the dealer was liable to pay tax the dealer contends that it should be construed as meaning a quarter for which, under rule 19, every registered dealer is required to furnish a return. Shri Tankha, the learned counsel for the dealer, strongly relies upon Madan Lal Arora v. Excise and Taxation Officer, Amritsar[1961] 12 S.T.C. 387. In that case, a registered dealer had furnished his returns in respect of a period but failed to comply with a notice under section 11(2) of the East Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948. The Supreme Court held that, since t....

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....he commencement of this Act exceeded the limits specified in sub-section (5) shall be liable to pay tax in accordance with the provisions of this Act on all sales effected on or after the 1st April, 1949: Provided that the tax shall not be payable on sales made in the course of the execution of a contract which is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner to have been entered into before the commencement of this Act. (2) Every dealer to whom sub-section (1) does not apply shall be liable to pay tax under this Act with effect from the date of the expiry of two months after the month up to the end of which his turnover calculated from a date specified in sub-section (2-a) exceeds the limits specified in sub-section (5), (2-a) For....

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....te express but, within the limits set by the words, it is the duty of the Courts so to construe statutes as to suppress the mischief against which they are directed and to advance the remedy which they are intended to provide. 6.. We are fortified in the view we have indicated in the foregoing paragraphs by a decision of the Supreme Court in State of Orissa and Another v. Chakobhai Ghelabhai and Co[1960] 11 S.T.C. 716. In that case, their Lordships considered the meaning of the word "period" in an expression, which is identical with the one here, namely, "any dealer has been liable to pay tax under this Act in respect of any period." That expression occurs in section 12(5) of the Orissa Act, which, being directed against a dealer who has....