- (1.) THE Sales Tax Officer, Sikar, the Assessing Authority has filed this petition u/s. 15 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act which arises out of the order passed by the Board of Revenue dated 8-4-1964 for making a reference to the High Court of Rajasthan and to state the case on the two points mentioned therein.
(2.) THE first point was whether the period of limitation from an order passed in appeal should be reckoned from the date of the receipt of the appellate order under rule 36 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Rules or from the date on which the order was passed, in the presence and knowledge of the opposite party. THE second point for stating the case to the High Court was whether the Board was competent in revision proceedings to disturb the concurrent finding of fact of the two Courts below about the sale of yarn by the assessee to its Members. I have heard the Government Advocate as well as the counsel for the assessee. The second point on which the Government Advocate desired this Board to make a reference to the High Court relates to the question of fact whether the transaction between the society and its Members for the distribution of yarn operated as a sale or only a supply of material by the Society to the Members. My previous judgment would reveal that both the subordinate authorities, the assessing as well as the appellate authority have not cared to examine the accounts of the Society and came to a wrong conclusion that the transaction was sale and not the supply of yarn. No evidence was ever scrutinised by both the authorities. This finding on that account is considered as perverse and was rightly set aside in my revisional jurisdiction. Before any sale could take place the property in the goods must be transferred by the seller to the buyer for a consideration or on deferred payment basis. Hence this is a question of fact and not a point of law, which is required to be referred to the High Court for their opinion. I do not propose to refer this question to the High Court. The first, question which the Government Advocate prayed before this Bench to be referred to the High Court was the date from which the limitation period should run on an order passed in appeal; should it run from the date of the order passed in the presence of the parties or from the date, the order is communicated to the assessee? In this case the order of the Appellate Authority Taxation dated 14-9-1960 may kindly be perused. This order clearly states that the Deputy Commissioner, Appeals Jaipur heard the counsel for the assessee on 5-9-1961 and passed the order on 14-9-1961. A copy of this order was endorsed to the assessee on 25-9-1961 which was received by the assessee on 1011-1962. This clearly shows that the date on which the assessee was heard, no order was passed in his presence nor communicated to him. There is nothing on record to show whether the assessee was required to be present on the date of the order on which it was to be pronounced. The law on this subject has been laid down by their Lordships of the High Court with great clarity in Bajrangsingh versus the State of Rajasthan reported in R. R. D. 1964 page 324. This was a case of assessment of a jagir compensation. The Jagir Commissioner was enjoined by Section 33 of the Jagir Act to communicate his final order to the Government, the Jagirdar and every other interested person. Their Lordships laid down that although Code of Civil Procedure did not apply to such cases, yet principle of natural justice as laid down, in Order 20, Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure required that the judgment should be pronounced on the date fixed and if this date has been adjourned, then the parties and the pleaders should be informed of the adjourned date, to appear for the judgment, but in case where the parties are not informed on the date of the decision then Section 33 of the Jagir Act would come into play and the period of limitation would commence from the date of the communication of the decision received by the party. This case was followed by the Board of Revenue in State Vs. Shri Bhagirathsingh reported in R. R. D. 1965 page 87. It is on the analogy of this Jagir case that the limitation period has to be decided in sales tax cases also. Section 36 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Rules, 1955 also lays down as follows: - "a copy of every order of the appellate authority disposing of an appeal shall be sent to the appellant and to the assessing authority concerned, either by personal delivery or by post. " The rule, therefore, clearly requires that the order shall be communicated to the assessee. If the order is not pronounced in the presence of the parties, no doubt the limitation would be reckoned from the date of the communication of the order. There is nothing on the facts of this case to show that the assessee was present or was called upon to be present on the date of the pronouncement of the judgment by the appellate authority, and naturally when the decision was communicated the assessee filed the revision petition and the limitation was rightly reckoned from that date. Besides there is no provision that the assessee should apply for a copy of the order for filing a revision petition. It is mandatory for the assessing as well as the appellate authority in sales tax assessment matters to give a copy of the order passed to enable the assessee to understand his case and to take necessary action in a matter. The orders passed in the assessment of sales tax are different from the orders in judgment judicial proceedings where the suit or application is either rejected or accepted and the plaintiff or the petitioner at once knows the fate of his case. He is not entitled in civil matters to get a free copy of the order or judgment so passed. He has to apply for the copy of the order or judgment on payment of proper court fees separately. It is upon the receipt of such true copies that an appeal or revision could be field by the litigants, in sales tax and jagir cases which both relate to assessment of turn over and the assessment of income respectively for the purpose of payment of compensation. It is only upon such assessment that an assessee or a claimant knows after reading the order whether to go in appeal or not. It is mandatory under the law in both these cases that such assessment order should be given gratis to the assessee and the claimants. It is, therefore, necessary that the limitation should be reckoned ordinarily from the date of the communication of such orders and not from the date of its pronouncement because mere pronouncement of orders in such cases have no meaning unless the entire detailed order is written out and read over to the parties. Normally this procedure of first writing out the order and reading it out before the party is not followed before these assessing authorities. Therefore, in view of this settled law and the absence of the information whether the assessee was present or not on the date of the hearing when the order was pronounced, the question for making a reference to the High Court as requested does not arise. The reference application is accordingly rejected. .;