1968 (9) TMI 126

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....quash the orders made against him. 2. It is undisputed that the motor vehicle with which we are concerned in this writ petition is a tractor trailer in respect of which the petitioner obtained a public carrier permit. A public carrier vehicle, according to the definition contained in S. 2(9) of the Act, means a motor vehicle carrying or adapted to carry goods for hire or reward. During the proceedings before the Tax Officer for the determination of the tax payable by him on the hypothesis that the tractor trailer was used by him for carrying goods, notices were taken out to the petitioner twice and those notices were served on him personally. But when he did not appear, the Tax Officer rightly proceeded to make a determination of the tax....

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.... that, if the vehicle owned by the petitioner is a public carrier vehicle and goods are transported in that vehicle, the tax charged by that section becomes payable. When the petitioner was served with a notice on the second occasion he was intimated that if he failed to appear on the date of hearing, the determination of the tax payable by him would be made in his absence. But he did not appear before the Tax Officer, who, therefore, rightly proceeded to make the determination to the best of his judgment. The Transport Commissioner in appeal did not accept the story of the petitioner that that notice was not served on him, and, that finding which is a finding on a question of fact is not open to discussion in this Court. 5. But we are o....

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....ain that that is not how the determination could be made under S. 6. That determination, although Section 6 does not say so in so many words, is what may be described as the best judgment determination. That determination should not emanate from a desire to punish the defaulting operator and must rest upon the consideration of some material which should be gathered and collected by the Tax Officer. 8. What was said by the Privy Council in C. I. T. v. Lakshminarayan Badridas 1937 ITR 170 with respect to a best judgment assessment under the Income Tax Act, is, we think, equally applicable to at best judgment determination under Section 6 of the Mysore Motor Vehicles (Taxation on Passengers and Goods) Act. 1961. What the Privy Council obser....