1983 (3) TMI 246

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....Easun Engineering Company Ltd. v. Joint Commercial Tax Officer [1970] 26 STC 486, State of Madras v. Spencer and Company Ltd. [1974] 34 STC 249 and Nagaraja Overseas Traders v. State of Mysore [1974] 33 STC 315, held that the enhancement petition could not be admitted, as the subjectmatter of the enhancement petition was not before the first appellate authority; nor was it canvassed by the Revenue before it. Therefore the question involves the determination of the scope and ambit of the power of the Tribunal under section 36(3)(a)(i) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, hereinafter referred to as the Act. Section 36(3) of the Act so far as it is relevant is extracted below: "36. (3) In disposing of an appeal, the Appellate T....

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.... reduce, enhance or annul the assessment. It also enables the Tribunal to set aside the assessment and direct the assessing authority to make a fresh assessment after such further enquiry as may be directed. The said subsection does not in terms limit the power of the Appellate Tribunal to deal with the order of the appellate authority alone. Thus the above provision contemplates a case where the Tribunal can enhance the assessment, if the Revenue files an application for enhancement and if enhancement is called on on the facts and circumstances of the particular case. The scope of section 36(3)(a) of the Act came up for consideration before a Division Bench of this Court in Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes v. Panayappan Leather I....

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....e aforesaid decision of this Court in Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes v. Panayappan Leather Industries [1981] 47 STC 88 has been followed consistently by various Division Benches of this Court in T.C. No. 1284 of 1977 (State of Tamil Nadu v. Kutty Flush Doors & Furniture Co. (P.) Ltd. [1984] 57 STC 217) judgment dated 15th April, 1982, T.C. No. 1304 of 1977 (State of Tamil Nadu v. Pyarelal Malhotra [1984] 57 STC 215) and T.C. No. 1564 of 1977 (State of Tamil Nadu v. Rallis India Limited [1984] 57 STC 218) in all of which the power of the Tribunal to enhance the assessment was upheld, even though the subject-matter of the enhancement petition filed by the Revenue was not before the first appellate authority. These decisions squarely ....