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PETITIONER: RAGHUBAR MANDAL HARIHAR MANDAL
Vs.
RESPONDENT: THE STATE OF BIHAR
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 22/05/1957
BENCH: DAS, S.K. BENCH: DAS, S.K. BHAGWATI, NATWARLAL H. KAPUR, J.L.
CITATION: 1957 AIR 810 1958 SCR 37
ACT: Sales Tax-Assessee’s accounts rejected as unreliable-Assess- ment made on guess without reference to evidence or materialValidity-Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1944 (Bihar Act VI of 1944),S.I0(2)(b)-Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 (XI Of 1922), S. 23(3).
HEADNOTE: The appellant filed the necessary returns, as required by the provisions of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1944, and produced the account books. The Sales Tax Officer considered that the account books were not dependable and, after rejecting them as well as the returns, proceeded to estimate the gross turnover by adopting a figure by pure guess, without reference to any evidence or material, and made the assessment under s. 10 (2) (b) of the Act. Held, that under S. 1O (2) (b) of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1944, a duty is imposed on the assessing authority to make the assessment after hearing such evidence as the assessee may produce and such other evidence as the assessing authority may require on specified points, and, in case the returns of the assessee and his books of account are rejected, the assessing authority must make an estimate, but this must be based on ...