14. Production and inspection of books, documents and accounts.
(1)The Commissioner or any person appointed to assist him under sub-section (1) of section 3 not below the rank of an [Excise and Taxation Officer] [Substituted for 'Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer' by Punjab Act No. 2 of 1978.] may for the purposes of this Act, require any dealer referred to in section 10 to produce before him any book, document or account relating to his business and may inspect, examine or copy the same and make such enquiries from such dealer relating to his business, as may be necessary :Provided that books, documents and accounts of a period more than five years prior to the year in which assessment is made shall not be so required.(2)Every registered dealer shall -(a)maintain day to day accounts of his business;(b)maintain a list of his account books, display it along with his registration certificate and furnish a copy of such list to the Assessing Authority.(c)produce, if so required, account books of his business before the Assessing Authority for authentication in the prescribed manner;(d)retain his account books at the place of his business, unless removed therefrom by an official for inspection, by any official agency or by auditors or for any other reason which may be considered to be satisfactory by the Assessing Authority.(3)If any officer referred to in sub-section (1) has reasonable ground for believing that any dealer is trying to evade liability for tax or other dues under this Act, and that anything necessary for the purpose of an investigation into his liability may be found in any book, account, register or document, he may seize such book, account, register or document as may be necessary. The officer seizing the book, account, register or document shall forthwith grant a receipt for the same and shall -(a)in the case of book, account, register or document which was being used at the time of seizing within a period of ten days from the date of seizure; and(b)in any other case, within a period of sixty days from the date of seizure,return it to the dealer or the person from whose custody it was seized after examination or after having such copies or extracts taken therefrom as may be considered necessary, provided the dealer or the aforesaid person gives a receipt in writing for the book, account, register or document returned to him. The officer may, before returning the book, account, register or document, affix his signatures and his official seal at one or more places thereon, and in such case the dealer or aforesaid person will be required to mention in the receipt given by him the number of places where the signature and seal of such officers have been affixed on each book, account, register or document.(4)For the purposes of sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) an officer referred to in sub-section (1) may enter and search any office, shop, godown vessel, vehicle, or any other place of business of the dealer or any building or place except residential houses where such officer has reason to believe that the dealer keeps or is, for the time being, keeping any book, account, register or document or goods relating to his business.(5)The power conferred by sub-section (4) shall include the power to open and search any box or receptacle in which any books, accounts, registers or other relevant documents of the dealer may be contained.(6)Any officer empowered to act under sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) shall have power to seize any goods which are found in any office, shop, godown, vessel, vehicle or any other place of business or any building or place of the dealer, but not accounted for by the dealer in his books, accounts, registers, records and other documents.
