T.S. Ramachandra Rao vs The State of Madras by the Commercial Tax Officer

Satyanarayana Rao, J.—The Assessee is the proprietor of a boarding house and is also running a cafe. There is now no dispute regarding the turnover of the cafe but the dispute is with reference to the turnover of the boarding house. The department arrived at the figure of Rs. 61,346-6-0 as the turnover for the boarding house for the period from 1st August 1949 to 31st March 1950. The Assessee appealed to the Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal however increased the turnover to Rs. 66,814 by adding a sum of Rupees 5,726-2-0 to the figure which had been determined by the department. We think that the Tribunal has no such power, in an appeal by an Assessee, to increase the turnover, as the Tribunal is not the assessing authority. They did not exercise the power conferred upon them by Section 12-A , Sub-section 5, second proviso. Our attention was not drawn to any rule in support of the procedure adopted by the Tribunal and no appeal is provided for u/s 12-A at the instance of the department.

We therefore modify the order of the Tribunal by restricting the turnover of the boarding house to the sum of Rs. 61,346-6-0 instead of Rs. 66,814.

As regards the assessment made by the department on the best judgment principle, we see no ground to interfere as it is a pure question of fact.

With this modification the petition is dismissed but in the circumstances without costs.