1991 (6) TMI 252

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....ion 36(3-A) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, was inserted by Act 22 of 1982, and, therefore, any order passed on that enhancement petition by the Tribunal cannot be sustained. For what follows, we cannot agree. 2. Section 36(3-A) was introduced in the statue book by Act 22 of 1982. This section reads thus : "Within a period of sixty days from the date of receipt of notice that an appeal against the order passed by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner under sub-section (3) of section 31 or an order passed by the Deputy Commissioner under sub-section (3) of section 31-A or sub-section (1) of section 32 has been filed, any assessing authority or his representative appearing before the Appellate Tribunal may file an en....

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....he Revenue before the Tribunal. The section, in terms, does not deal with the powers of the Tribunal to pass an order of enhancement. That power is vested in the Appellate Tribunal under section 36(3)(a)(i) of the Act. The provision reads thus : "36(3) In disposing of an appeal, the Appellate Tribunal may, after giving the appellant a reasonable opportunity of being heard, and for sufficient reasons to be recorded in writing - (a) in the case of an order of assessment - (i) confirm, reduce, enhance or annul the assessment or penalty or both;" By the above section, in an appeal preferred by the assessee, the Tribunal has the power to decide the appeal by either confirming, reducing or even enhancing or annulling....

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.... for the petitioner, however, relied upon a judgment of a learned single Judge in Writ Petition No. 248 of 1984 (U. Gulab Singh v. State of Tamil Nadu - decided on November 23, 1988). That judgment, in our opinion, does not lay down the correct law in so far as the power of the Tribunal to pass an order of enhancement under section 36(3)(a)(i) is concerned. As a matter of fact, the judgment is conspicuously silent about the provisions of section 36(3)(a)(i) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, which is the relevant provision. The judgment appears to have proceeded only on the ground that section 36(3-A) had been introduced in 1982, and prior to that, the representative could not file a petition for enhancement. Since, it ignores the pro....