TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1978 (1) TMI 155
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....checking under section 13 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 (as applicable to the State of Haryana). At that time, he was accompanied by Shri R.K. Gupta, P.W. 3, Excise and Taxation Inspector, and Shri Ashok Kumar, Peon, P.W. 6. When the party was present at the crossing of Gur Bazar, Sadar Bazar and Bajajan Bazar, a person of the name of jagdish Rai, Constable, P.W. 2, was seen coming and carrying pulses, salt, vegetable ghee, etc. Shri K.K. Sayal, P.W. 1, enquired from him whether he was in possession of a regular purchase voucher issued by the shopkeeper or not. Upon this, Jagdish Rai, P.W. 2, produced before him a kacha parchi, exhibit PC, signed by Rajeshwar Parshad, respondent. At the instance of this witness, Jagdish Rai, P.W....
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....hri K.K. Sayal, P.W. 1, and his staff took shelter in a neighbouring shop owned by one Pushap Rai, P.W. 4. Thereafter he sent a writing, exhibit PA, to the Station House Officer, Ambala Cantt., about this matter on the basis of which the first information report, exhibit PA/1, was lodged there. After the completion of the investigation, the two respondents were sent up for trial before the learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Ambala Cantt. The prosecution relied upon the statements of Shri K.K. Sayal, P.W. 1, Constable Jagdish Rai, P.W. 2, R.K. Gupta, P.W. 3, Pushap Rai, P.W. 4, A.S.I. Kanwal Kishore, P.W. 5, Ashok Kumar, Peon, P.W. 6, and Ram Mehar, P.W. 7. The learned trial Magistrate convicted the respondents under sections 353/186 ....
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....lieving that any dealer is trying to evade liability for tax or other dues under this Act, and that anything necessary for the purpose of an investigation into his liability may be found in any book, account, register or document, he may seize such book, account, register or document as may be necessary. The officer seizing the book, account, register or document shall forthwith grant a receipt for the same and shall, (a) in the case of book, account, register or document which was being used at the time of seizing, within a period of ten days from the date of seizure; and (b) in any other case, within a period of sixty days from the date of seizure; return it to the dealer or the person from whose custody it was seized after examination....
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....o be quite plausible. If the statute lays down that it would be open to an Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer to exercise powers mentioned in section 14 of the Act, the learned appellate court should not have held against the State on that point. We, however, feel that there is another hurdle in the way of the State Government which is of a more formidable nature. Sub-section (3) of section 14 of the Act casts a duty on the officer seizing the book, account, register or document to grant the receipt for the same forthwith and if the document seized relate to the current period to return them after ten days and to return them within a period of 60 days if they are of some different nature. On the point whether Shri K.K. Sayal, P.W. 1, off....
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....r whose books are seized is mandatory or not. The provision regarding the compulsory return of the books after a specific period also gives an indication that this provision should be held mandatory. If we were to hold that this provision is directory in nature, this will entail untold hardships to the business community because in some cases the persons seizing the books would just decline to give the receipts and it would make well nigh impossible for the businessmen to retrieve their seized books. In State of Uttar Pradesh v. Babu Ram UpadhyaA.I.R. 1961 S.C. 751., it was observed as under: "For ascertaining the real intention of the legislature, the court may consider, inter alia, the nature and the design of the statute, and the conseq....
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....ovisions are based on the law of England where an Englishman's house is said to be regarded as his castle and cannot be easily invaded even by the Forces of the State. Similar safeguards are even more necessary in this country where an Indian's house is also his zenana, in which his womenfolk, who by custom must be protected from the gaze of strangers, should find safe asylum and refuge. Section 165, Criminal Procedure Code, was enacted as an exception to the general law of searches because it was recognised that in certain exceptional emergencies it was necessary to empower responsible police officer to carry out searches without first applying to the courts for authority. But it was clearly the intention of the legislature that the powers....