1969 (1) TMI 58

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....rnover of Rs. 5,65,962.67 and for the year 1959-60 of Rs. 6,19,902.67. The assessee's version was accepted and the final assessment orders were made under rule 41(5) of the rules framed under the Act. A little later the assessing authority came in possession of certain documents on the basis of which proceedings against the assessee under section 21 of the Act for his reassessment for the two years mentioned above were started. The assessing authority exercising his "best judgment" fixed the escaped turnover at a figure of Rs. 7 lacs for each of the two years. The assessee appealed and the appellate authority reduced the turnover to Rs. 4,08,000 for each of the two years mentioned above. The assessee then filed revision applications befor....

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.... charged at the rate at which it would have been charged had the turnover not escaped assessment or full assessment, as the case may be. Explanation.-Nothing in this sub-section shall be deemed to prevent the assessing authority from making an assessment to the best of its judgment. (2) No order of assessment under sub-section (1) or under any other provision of this Act shall be made for any assessment year after the expiry of four years from the end of such year: Provided that where the notice under sub-section (1) has been served within such four years the assessment or reassessment to be made in pursuance of such notice may be made within one year of the date of the service of the notice even if the period of four years is thereby exc....

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....e where a reassessment is being made. In our judgment the submission of the learned counsel is not well founded. The Legislature had to use two words, "assess" and "reassess", in sub-section (1) because they were providing for two contingencies, i.e., a case where there had been no assessment at all in which case there will be assessment and a case where though there was an assessment it was not comprehensive to include the entire turnover, in which case there would be reassessment. However, in the explanation the Legislature used the word "assessment" in a wider sense to cover both classes of cases, i.e., cases where no assessment had been made and those in which reassessment was being made. The word "assessment" is capable of this wider m....

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....se of being inclusive of reassessment. That being the position, we are of the opinion that best judgment assessment can be made even in the case of reassessment under sub-section (1) of section 21 of the Act. Lastly it is contended that the view that we are taking is likely to conflict with the Division Bench decision of Desai, C.J., and K.B. Asthana, J., in M/s. Pooran Mal Kapoor Chand v. Commissioner of Sales TaxS.T.R. No. 147 of 1957 decided on 30th July, 1963. In that case the learned Judges did not intend to lay down an absolute rule because they themselves modified their observations by making two exceptions to it. The first exception that they made was that in a case where a turnover had either expressly or specifically been exclude....