SC on arbitrary orders passed by the commercial tax authorities
The SC, in Assistant Commissioner Anti Evasion Commercial Taxes, Bharatpur vs Amtek India Limited, has passed strictures on commercial tax officers who pass arbitrary and unreasonable orders.
The SC said, “…the action of the concerned assessing officer, in overlooking the documents produced coming to the conclusion about manipulation appears to be totally uncalled for and without any reasonable basis. This is a case where the officer should have been more careful and should not have acted in a manner as if he was a bloodhound and not a watchdog of revenue. It is unfortunate that in large number of cases, orders totally bereft of rationality are being passed. They do not in any manner serve public interest, much less the interest of revenue.
Therefore, while holding that the action of the Assessing Authority was clearly unjustified, we direct deletion of the direction for imposition of cost. We, however, make it clear that in future if any such action comes to the notice of the Courts/Authorities, appropriate action shall be taken in accordance with law and the observations made in this case about lack of bona fide shall also be a factor to be taken note of.”
The Rajasthan High Court had imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000.00 on the concerned officer for not acting in ‘good faith’ and imposing heavy penalty illegally though all prescribed documents were produced at the time of checking of the consignment.
The SC has been equally severe in its criticism of such actions by the officers, but decided to delete the penalty imposed.
Date of decision : 22 Feb 2007