64. Production and inspection of accounts and documents and search of premises :-
(1) The Commissioner may, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, require any dealer to produce before him any accounts or documents, or to furnish any information, relating to stocks of goods of, or to sales, purchases and delivery of goods or to payments made or received towards sales or purchases of goods by the dealer, or any other information relating to his business, as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act.
(2) All accounts, registers and documents relating to stock of goods of, or to purchases, sales and delivery of goods, payments made or received towards sale or purchase of goods by any dealer and all goods and cash kept in any place of business of any dealer, shall at all reasonable times, be open to inspection by the Commissioner, and the Commissioner may take or cause to be taken such copies or extracts of the said accounts, registers or documents and such inventory of the goods and cash found as appear to him to be necessary for the purposes of this Act.
(3) If the Commissioner has reason to believe that any dealer has evaded or is attempting to evade the payment of any tax due from him, he may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, seize such accounts, registers or documents of the dealer as may be necessary, and shall grant a receipt for the same, and shall retain the same for so long as may be necessary in connection with any proceeding under this Act 1[or for any prosecution]:
Provided that, on application of the dealer, the Commissioner shall provide true copies of the said accounts, registers or documents.
(4) For the purposes of sub-section (2) or sub-section (3), the Commissioner may enter and search any place of business of any dealer or any other place where the Commissioner has reason to believe that the dealer keeps or is for the time being keeping any accounts, registers or documents of his business or stocks of goods relating to his business.
(5) Where any books of accounts, other documents, money or goods are found in the possession or control of any person in the course of any search, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that such books of accounts, other documents, money or goods belong to such person.
Explanation.- For the purposes of this section, “place of business” includes a place where the dealer is engaged in business, through an agent by whatever name called or otherwise, the place of business of such agent, a warehouse, godown or other place where the dealer or the agent stores his goods and any place where the dealer or the agent keeps the books of accounts.
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1. These words were inserted by Mah. Act No. XIV of 2005, dated the 31st March, 2005 w.e.f. 1.4.2005. |