- (1.) THESE two matters were heard together as they are inter linked. The first matter arises out of a reference made by a learned single Judge of this Court for determination of the following question by a division Bench: "whether cess payable, under section 5a of the Textiles Committee Act, 1963, by a manufacturer of textiles who neither paid duty of excise under central Excise and Salt Act, 1944, nor submitted returns and paid cess under Textiles Committee Act, 1963, can be assessed by the Assessing Officer under this Act on the basis of figures obtained from source or sources other than the two alternative sources (i. e. , the Central Excise Department or the average of the cess levied during the previous two quarters) mentioned in rule 8 of the Textiles Committee (Cess) Rules, 1975. "
(2.) BRIEFLY stated the facts giving rise to the filing of the writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India before the learned Single Judge are as follows: a notice dated 30th January, 2002 (Annexure-P2) was issued against the petitioner No. 1, viz. M/s. Biswanath Hosiery Mills Ltd. It was issued by the assessing Officer appointed by the Committee established under the provisions of the Textiles Committee Act, 1963 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), By it, the Assessing Officer afforded an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner No. 1, viz. M/s. Biswanath Hosiery Mills Ltd. , before assessment of cess payable by it in terms of section 5a of the Act. It was indicated that for the period from 1996-97 to 2000-01 the amount of payable cess would be around Rs. 14 lakh.
(3.) AFTER hearing the petitioner No. 1, the Assessing Officer passed an order dated 5th March 2002 (Annexure-'p3' ). By the said order, the petitioner No. 1 was directed to submit the returns and pay the cess. Such order was followed by five demand notices (Annexure-'p4' ). All the notices were issued on 10th april, 2002. They were issued under the provisions of the Textiles Committee (Cess) Rules, 1975 (hereinafter referred to as "the rules" ).;