Commercial Tax Officer Vs. M/s. MIilona Ice Cream Private Limited (Kerala High Court)
Assessing Officer issued a notice to the assessee threatening cancellation of the compounding and regular assessment. The notice was on the ground that there could be no compounding applied for, for ice-creams which is not a cooked food. Regular assessment was completed for the year as seen from Exhibit P16 produced in W.P.(C)No. 12649 of 2017.
At the first instance a compounding application was not responded to and after three quarters a notice was issued threatening cancellation. In the very next year the assessee again applied for compounding and the Assessing Officer sat over it without finalizing the earlier notice for cancellation and without rejecting the application for that subsequent year and even permitting remittance of quarterly tax under the scheme. The learned Special Government Pleader (Taxes), who argued the appeals on behalf of the State would point out that there were two Officers in the two assessment years. We are not convinced that this would be an explanation for the laches of the Officers in not having looked at the applications in time. In any event we are more concerned with the merits of the matter. The lethargy of the department, however, cannot absolve the assessee from the natural consequences flowing from the Act.
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