Orissa High Court
Tata Steel Limited Formerly Known As ... vs State Of Orissa And Anr. on 14 February, 2006
Equivalent citations: 2006(I)OLR511
Bench: P.K. Mohanty, N. Prusty
ORDER
1. The petitioner assails the ex-parte order of assessment dated 31.12.2005 (Annexure-5) passed under Rule 12(3) of the C.S.T. (O) Rules passed by the Sales Tax Officer, Keonjhar Circle-opposite party No. 2 for the assessment year 2003-04.
2. The main thrust of argument of Mr. Ashok Parija, learned Senior Advocate, is that the Sales Tax Officer, Keonjhar Circle-opposite party No. 2 having not granted a reasonable opportunity to the petitioner No. 1 -Company for producing the various declaration forms and other documents in respect of exemptions it was entitled to in relation to the transactions made in course of inter-State trade, the order is per se illegal and, as such, is liable to be quashed on that score alone. It is submitted that the Sales Tax Officer, Keonjhar Circle-opposite party No. 2 sent the notice dated 24.12.2005 (Annexure-2) by registered post to the petitioner No. 1 fixing the date of hearing and production of Books of Accounts to 30.12.2005 but the same was registered only on 27.12.2005 and received by the petitioner No. 1 -Company only on 29.12.2005. Since the petitioner company received the notice (Annexure-2) on 29.12.2005 at Joda requiring it to produce the Books of Accounts on 30.12.2005 for assessment of sales tax as well as the Central Sales Tax and there was no time to collect and arrange the Books of Accounts along with other documents and 'C forms etc, petitioner filed an application seeking for grant of 60 days time to produce the same, a copy of which is Annexure-4. It is submitted that even though the application for time was duly received by the Sales Tax Officer, as would be apparent from the endorsement made therein, no orders were passed and the Sales Tax Officer proceeded with the matter and passed the impugned ex parte order. It is contended that since no reasonable opportunity was afforded to the petitioner to produce the Books of Accounts and the documents including the Form 'C before the assessment has been made raising a huge demand, the impugned order is per se illegal and arbitrary and, as such, is liable to be quashed. It is further submitted that the petitioner-Company has got all the requisite declaration form in Form 'C in respect of the transactions to the tune of Rs. 18849.35 lakhs made in course of inter-State trade and commerce as well as the documents in respect of the export sales made by it and had the petitioner-Company been given an opportunity to produce the same along with the Books of Accounts, the Sales Tax Officer could not have passed the impugned assessment order raising such a huge and imaginary demand.
3. Shri Ashok Mohanty, learned Senior Standing Counsel for the Sales Tax Department, however, contended that since the impugned order of assessment is an appealable order, the petitioner can raise his objection as raised in the present writ petition before the Appellate Authority and, as such, the writ petition should not be entertained and should be dismissed at the threshold.
4. Having heard the learned Counsel for the parties and on perusal of the materials on record, we find that the Commercial Tax Officer, Keonjhar Circle by notice dated 24.12.2005 (Annexure-2) required the petitioner No. 1-Company to appear before him and produce the Books of Accounts for the years 2002-03 and 2003-04 under O.S.T./C.S.T. Act on 30.12.2005. It appears from the Xerox copy of the registered letter (Annexure-3) that the said notice was sent by registered post on 27.12.2005 and according to the petitioner, the said notice was received in its office at Joda on 29.12.2005. The petitioner by its application dated 30.12.2005 (Annexure-4) requested the Sales Tax Officer to grant 60 days time to prepare for appearing before him with all records but instead of considering the same and passing any order, the Sales Tax Officer proceeded for assessment ex parte and passed the impugned ex parte order dated 31.12.2005. It further appears from the additional affidavit filed by the petitioner that pursuant to the application filed by the petitioner-Company on 30.12.2005 for time to produce the Books of Accounts for the year 2003-04 in respect of Sales Tax under the Orissa Sales Tax Act, the Sales Tax Officer allowed time till 30.1.2006 for the purpose but no time, even for a week, has been allowed in favour of the petitioner-Company for production of the Books of Accounts and other documents with regard to assessment under the Central Sales Tax (Orissa) Rules in spite of the fact that the applications were filed pursuant to a composite notice under Annexure-2 for both Sales Tax and Central Sales Tax.
5. The sequence of events as discussed herein before clearly indicate that the petitioner-Company was denied a reasonable opportunity to produce its Books of Accounts and other relevant documents and declaration forms before the Sales Tax Officer before the impugned order of assessment was passed ex parte and that obviously is in gross violation of the principles of natural justice. In view of our finding that the impugned order has been passed in gross violation of the principles of natural justice, for the ends of justice, we do not deem it appropriate that the petitioner should be asked to avail the statutory remedy by way of filing an appeal before the appellate authority and refuse to entertain the present writ petition.
6. In such view of the matter, we quash the ex parte order of assessment dated 31.12.2005 under Annexure-5 and remit the matter back to the Sales Tax Officer, Keonjhar Circle, Keonjhar to consider the matter afresh after allowing the petitioner to produce its Books of Accounts and any other relevant documents in support of its case and proceed with the assessment in accordance with law and pass appropriate order of assessment. In view of the submission of the learned Senior Standing Counsel that the assessment etc. has to be completed and the tax as due should be collected prior to 31st March, 2006, to cut short the delay, we direct the petitioner to appear before the Sales Tax Officer, Keonjhar Circle, Keonjhar on or before 16.2.2006 and produce the required Books of Accounts and all other relevant records whereafter the Sales Tax Officer/Assessment Officer shall proceed with the assessment in accordance with law and pass appropriate orders preferably by 20.2.2006. The learned Counsel on behalf of the petitioner-Company undertakes that one Authorised Officer of the Company will be available in the office of the Sales Tax Officer to receive the assessment order as and when passed or by the next date, i.e. 21.2.2006.
7. The writ petition along with the Misc. Case No. 1593 of 2006 is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
8. Urgent certified copy of this order be granted by 15.2.2006 on proper application.