Sanjib Banerjee, J. - (1.) The short point raised by the petitioner is that the seizure conducted by the Sales Tax Officer, Siliguri Range, which culminated in the issuance of a seizure receipt of December 11, 2014, was completely illegal and without jurisdiction. Section 67 of the West Bengal Value Added Tax Act, 2003 permits a Commissioner, a Special Commissioner, an Additional Commissioner or any person appointed under sub-section (1) of section 6 of the Act to assist the Commissioner to seize accounts, registers, documents and the like. Section 6(1) of the Act permits the State Government to appoint persons to assist the Commissioner and specify the areas over which such persons may exercise their jurisdiction.
(2.) The petitioner shows that the power under section 6(1) of the Act has been exercised through rule 3 of the West Bengal Value Added Tax Rules, 2005. There is a table appended to rule 3 of the said Rules. A column in such table names the additional persons appointed by the State Government to assist the Commissioner. The specified areas over which jurisdiction may be exercised by such persons is indicated in another column. Entry 44AA in the table covers section 66AA of the Act and entry 45 therein covers section 70 thereof. There is no entry in the table indicating the appointment of any person by the State Government to exercise the jurisdiction under section 67 of the Act.
(3.) The State refers to section 3(4) of the Act which permits the Commissioner "by an order in writing" to delegate any of his powers under the Act except those specified under section 93(13) thereof. The State contends that the Sales Tax Officer who had seized the documents and records in this case was duly authorised under section 3(4) thereof by virtue of the authority delegated by the Commissioner. The State also refers to section 6(2) of the Act which recognises persons appointed by the State Government under section 6(1) thereof and also delegatees of the Commissioner under section 3(4) thereof to have equal authority to deal with certain matters.;