The burden of proving that any transaction of a dealer is not liable to tax under the Act lies on the dealer.

Mohammed, J.

These Tax Revision Cas.es originate from the assessment orders under the Kerala General Salestax Act, 1963 (for short'Act') for the assessment years 1984-85 and 1985-86. These cases are filed by a partnership firm by name 'Sreekrishna Trading Co.' (hereinafter referred to as 'assessee') doing business in arrack and foreign liquor, against the common order passed by the Kerala Salestax Appellate Tribunal, Thiruvananthapuram in T.A. Nos 116/88,117/88,121/88 and 122/88 dated4-6-1990. T.A. Nos 116/88 and 117/88 were filed by the assessee against the common order passed by the Additional Appellate Assistant Commissioner in S.T. A. Nos 967 and 968 of 1987. As against the very same order, the State had filed T.A. Nos. 121 and 122/ 88. The Appellate Tribunal allowed the appeal for the year 1984-85 (T.A. 121/88) in part whereas the appeal for the year 1985-86 (T.A. 122/88) was allowed in entirety. The appeals filed by the assessee for me aforesaid years (T.A. Nos 116 and 117/88) were dismissed by the Tribunal as per the common order referred to above.

2. The questions of law framed by the assessee for the years 1984-1985 are as follows:

'A. Was the Appellate Tribunal justified in holding that a clear pattern of suppression is established in the case of arrack?

B. Was the Appellate Tribunal justified in holding that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner is not justified in interfering with the addition made in the case of arrack and in sustaining the assessment order?

C. Was the Appellate Tribunal justified in upholding the rejection of accounts?

D. Was the Appellate Tribunal justified in holding that the modification ordered by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner in the case of arrack for 1984-85 is found to be without properly appreciating the gravity of the suppressions detected and admission of the assessee?

E. Was the Appellate Tribunal justified in sustaining the additions made by the assessing authority for all or any of the reasons stated in their appellate order? Similar questions are framed for the year 1985-86 also.

3. When the above casess came up before the Division Bench, it observed that there was apparent conflict between the decisions of the two Division Benches in Kuruvila Chacko v. State of Kerala (1991 KLJ (Tax Cases) 665) and S. Valsala v. State of Kerala (T.R.C. No. 168 of 1992). In view of this, the DivisionBench referred the cases for being heard by a larger bench i n order to resolve the alleged conflict. That is how these cases came up before us for hearing.

4. Before examining the questions raised above, it would be essential to encapsulate as to how the assessment orders were completed for the years 1984-85 and 1985-86. There is no dispute that both the orders were passed under best of judgment assessment as contemplated under S.17(3) of the Act. The basis for resorting to the said method of assessment is the shop inspection reports prepared by the officers. During the year 1984-'85 the shops of the assessee were inspected by the Intelligence Officer, Quilon on 15-9-1984. Similarly during the year 1985-'86 the shops were inspected on 25-3-1986. Though the assessee filed returns in Form No. 8 for the aforesaid years, the assessing authority issued pre-assessment notices proposing to reject the returns and complete the assessment mainly on the basis of the shop inspection reports prepared by the Intelligence Officer, during the inspections referred to above. Though the assessee filed explanations to the defects pointed out in the pre-assessment notices, the assessing auhtority completed the'assessments as proposed in the notices. As against the assessment orders for the years 1984-85 and 1985-86, the assessee filed appeals under S.34 of the Act before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Kollam. By a common order dated 26-11-1987 the Appellate Assistant Commissioner directed the assessing authority to revise the assessment orders for the years 1984-85 and 1985-86 in view of the directions conta