Case Law Details
Balaji Polypack Vs Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Allahabad High Court)
Under U.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2008 The burden to prove the material which was recovered by the various mobile squads was upon the Department and burden could not have been shifted upon the assessee to prove the same. Further, the assessee has denied the transaction having been made by him.
Counsel for the assessee during argument had invited the attention of the Court to the transaction of Invoice No. 355 which according to department was to the tune of Rs.9,701/- while the transaction recorded in the books of accounts of the assessee was to the tune of Rs.45,352/-. This fact discloses that Department was not able to prove the material which was seized by the various mobile squads. This Court finds that burden could not have been shifted by the Department upon the assessee and only on the ground that the documents were forwarded by the mobile squad to the assessing authority which had remained unproved by the Department, the tax liability could not have been imposed upon the assessee. Moreover, the finding recorded by the Tribunal to the extent that First Information Report should have been lodged by the assessee does not appeal to the Court, as it was duty of the Department to discharge its burden by proving the documents which have been seized by its mobile squads.
Now coming to the question of Section 16 of the Act of 2008, this Court finds that the word used in Section 16 is that where a fact is in the knowledge of the assessee, then during assessment the burden of proving shall lie upon assessee. In the present case, it was the material which was recovered by the various mobile squads which was denied by the assessee and thus was not in his knowledge. Thus Section 16 of the Act of 2008 is not attracted and the argument raised from the revenue side fails.
In view of said fact, this Court finds that the order passed by the Tribunal dated 17.01.2022 is unsustainable in the eyes of law and the same is hereby set aside.
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