- (1.) THIS is an application under Section 8 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987 praying for quashing or setting aside the order dated October 12, 2001 passed by respondent No. 2 according sanction for retention of the seized books of accounts and records till October 20, 2002 under Section 66(1)(b) of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act, 1994") and for a direction to release the books of accounts, documents, etc., seized on October 20, 2000 forthwith.
(2.) THE case of the petitioner, in brief, is that on the October 20, 2000, the respondent No. 2 along with some other officers seized the documents as per seizure receipt handed over to one Shri O.P. Sharma and those documents still are lying in possession of the respondents though under law such retention of the documents is not warranted. Under Section 66(1)(b) of the Act, 1994, documents are to be retained after seizure for a period of one year and in this case such period expired on October 19, 2001. The seized documents can only be retained provided reasons are recorded in writing and sanction thereby is obtained from the Commissioner.
(3.) ON October 22, 2001, the petitioner was served with a notice asking him to show cause by respondent No. 2 as to why the seized records shall not be retained further. The said notice was received by the petitioner on October 22, 2001, i.e., after the expiry of the period of one year from the date of seizure. On the same day an order dated October 12, 2001 was also received by the petitioner showing that respondent No. 2 accorded sanction for retention of the seized records till October 20, 2001 only to enable the investigating officer to complete the examination of the seized records. The petitioner was never given opportunity of being heard and to raise objection for retention of the seized documents beyond the period of one year. The order passed by the Additional Commissioner was also not communicated to the petitioner before the period of expiry for retention of the seized records. The order dated October 12, 2001 is, therefore, bad, illegal and is liable to be set aside.;