TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (11) TMI 1276
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....1, R2, R4 R3 - Tribunal (in all WPs) COMMON ORDER DR. ANITA SUMANTH.,J. These three writ petitions relate to proceedings for the periods 1996 - 97, 1997 - 98 & 1999 - 00 ('periods in question') passed in terms of the provisions of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 ('TNGST Act'). 2. The petitioner is a manufacture and dealer in Cement. In respect of the periods in question, assessments had been framed overriding the submissions of the petitioner that the sale price of the Cement as per its accounts was proper and had been arrived at in a scientific manner. The methodology for determination of turnover is set out under Rule 6 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Rules, 1959 (TNGST Rules), which sets out that, in de....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he invoices/accounts, had been made. 7. The matter had travelled in appeal to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner (AAC), who had remanded the matter by order dated 31.08.2000 for re-examination of the issue. The conclusion of the AAC at paragraph 12 is as follows:- "12. In the circumstances stated above, I'm of the opinion that these material facts were not at all deeply scrutinised and gone in depth. The Assessing Authority in a hasty approach had simply arrived an approximate freight charges on best of judgment and subjected it to tax without paying attention to any of the details furnished by the appellant, nor established his stand in clear terms beyond doubt. In the circumstances, I set aside the revision made along with i....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....uted. (ii) The sale invoice price shows a consolidated sale price, which, according to assessee, includes the freight charges. The assessing authority has also specifically recorded the contention of the assessee that there should be no further addition over and above the consolidated sale consideration as such an addition would constitute nothing but an estimate. (iii) No material has been found at any stage of the proceedings to indicate suppression or non-disclosure of receipts from freight. 10. We are of the considered view that none of the orders of assessment conduct an examination of the nature envisaged by the AAC in remand order dated 31.08.2000. No doubt, the assessing authority has attempted a cursory compari....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....l transactions as well. 14. This submission does not take into account the fact that the two invoices selected are of different dates and hence would not support the argument of reduction in sale price. The depot transfer invoice dated 17.02.1999 would have had to be compared with the sale invoice relating to that consignment, to establish whether the sale price was the same as the depot transfer price. Likewise, the depot transfer in respect of the consignment sold under invoice dated 14.02.1999 would have been of an anterior date, and the price under that invoice ought to have been compared with the price under sale invoice dated 14.02.1999. 15. In our view, there is no merit in comparing depot transfer invoice dated 17.02.1999 with....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... in the accounts is correct. The Act provides for a mechanism in this regard in Section 12A of the TNGST Act, which deals with the assessment of sales shown in accounts at low prices. That provision reads thus: "(1) If the assessing authority is satisfied that a dealer has, with a view to evade the payment of tax, shown in his accounts, sales or purchases of any goods, at prices which are abnormally low compared to the prevailing market price of such goods, it may, at any time within a period of five years from the expiry of the year to which the tax relates, assess or reassess the dealer to the best of its judgment on the turnover of such sales or purchases after making such enquiry as it may consider necessary and after giving th....