Abhishek Traders Vs Commissioner Commercial Tax (Allahabad High Court)
The Allahabad High Court considered a revision challenging the order dated 04.02.2025 passed by the Commercial Tax Tribunal, Agra, in a second appeal arising from a best judgment assessment. The revisionist was engaged in civil work contracts for Government and semi-Government bodies. A survey was conducted at the revisionist’s business premises on 22.09.2016, during which six exhibits were seized. Of these, Exhibits 1, 2, and 3 were treated as relating to the revisionist’s business. Based on these documents, a notice was issued, and after the reply was found unsatisfactory, the Assessing Authority passed a best judgment assessment order on 30.03.2024. The first appeal against the assessment was dismissed, while the second appeal before the Tribunal was partly allowed, granting substantial relief.
Before the High Court, the revisionist contended that Exhibits 1 and 2 did not pertain to its business and instead belonged to its accountant, against whom an FIR had been lodged. It was argued that certificates were produced to show that no transactions had taken place with the persons named in those exhibits and that once such rebuttal material was placed on record, the burden shifted to the department to prove suppressed purchases and sales. Reliance was placed on an earlier decision of the Court to argue that the assessment to that extent was unsustainable.
