B.P.Jha, J.

1. I shall dispose of these three writ petitions, i.e., C.W.J.C. No. 1505 of 1973, C.W.J.C. No. 1506 of 1973 and C.W.J.C. No. 1507 of 1973 by a common judgment, as a common point of law arises for consideration in these writ petitions.

2. The relevant facts are these :

In C.W.J.C. No. 1505 of 1973, the petitioners, M/s. Bhimraj Madan Lal, sold pulses worth Rs. 10,09,040.71 outside the State of Bihar through its arhatia during the period 1968-69. Similarly in C.W.J.C. No. 1506 of 1973, the petitioners, M/s. Bhimraj Madan Lal, during the period 1970-71 sold pulses worth Rs. 22,77,666.44 outside the State of Bihar through its arhatia. In C.W.J.C. No. 1507 of 1973, the petitioners, M/s. Bhimraj Madan Lal, had, during the period 1969-70, sold pulses worth Rs. 16,17,876.85 outside the State of Bihar through its arhatia.

3. The short point for consideration is :

Whether the sales tax authorities can reopen the case in respect of the materials which were already available at their earlier assessment order simply for changing or revising their opinion ? The answer must be given in the negative.

4. These petitioners claimed deduction or exemption on account of sales outside the State of Bihar under the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Such sales are exempted from the purview of the Act. It is relevant to quote Sec. 4(1)(a) and (b) of the Act which run as follows :

4.(1) No tax shall be payable under this Act on sales or purchases of goods which have taken place- (a) in the course of inter-State trade or commerce;

(b) outside the State;

* * *

On a perusal of Sec. 4(1)(b) of the Act, it is clear that no tax shall be paid under the Act on sales or purchases of goods which have taken place outside the State of Bihar. In this case it is an admitted position that the manufactured pulses have been sent to the arhatia for selling them outside the State of Bihar.

5. In these writ petitions, the petitioners have prayed for quashing annexure 3. Annexure 3 is common in all the writ petitions. Annexure 3 is a notice issued by the Superintendent of Commercial Taxes, Patna, upon these petitioners. On a perusal of annexure 3, it is clear that by virtue of annexure 3, the sales tax authorities reopened the assessments under Sec.18(1) of the Act. It is relevant to quote Sec.18(1) of the Act, which runs as follows :

18. Turnover of registered dealer escaping assessment.-(1) If upon information which has come into his possession, the prescribed authority is satisfied that reasonable grounds exist to believe that any turnover of a registered dealer in respect of any period has, for any reason, escaped assessment or any turnover of any such dealer or a dealer assessed under Sub-section (5) of Sec.16 has been under-assessed or assessed at a rate lower than that which was correctly applicable or any deductions therefrom have been wrongly made, the prescribed authority may, subject to such rules as may be made by the State Government under this Act, and, * * *

6. Annexure 3 has been issued by the sales tax authorities in order to reopen the earlier assessment orders on the ground that the sales tax authorities erred in giving deductions on account of the sales outside the State of Bihar. In other words, the sales tax authorities are of opinion that the authority ought not to have granted deduction on the basis of form IX. As such the petitioners ought to have shown in their turnover such sales on the basis of second proviso to Section 7(2)(b) of the Act.

7. In C.W.J.C. No. 1506 of 1973, annexure 3 does not mention about form IX, nor about the proviso to Section 7(2)(b) of the Act. It simply states that these petitioners purchased raw pulses and they sent the manufactured pulses to outside the State of Bihar. In C.W.J.C. Nos. 1505 and 1507 of 1973, annexure 3 disclosed that the sales tax authorities ought not to have granted exemption on the basis of form IX (declaration form) as such purchase amount was taxable