IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE THIRD DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION NO : 23824 of 2008 Between: Aishwarya Enterprises, A Registered Partnership Firm, Having its Office at Nallacheruvu, Nallacheruvu Village & Mandal, Ananthapur District, Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Managing Partner, P. Ramnath. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer-III, Ananthapur. 2 The Commissioner, Commercial Tax, State of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. 3 The Tahsildar, Nallacheruvu Village & Mandal, Ananthapur District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in not handing over the books of accounts which were seized along with other goods by the 1st respondent on 03-02-2008 in the business premises of the petitioner, in spite of the letter of the 3rd respondent addressed to the 1st respondent in Rc.No. 34/2008/B dated 27-09-2008 as highly arbitrary, illegal, unjust, violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India as well as the violative of the provisions of the A.P. Value Added Tax Act, 2005 and issue a consequential direction to the respondents to forthwith handover the aforesaid books of accounts to the petitioner. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.S.SRINIVAS REDDY Counsel for the Respondents1 and 2.: GP FOR COMMERCIAL TAXES Counsel for respondent No.3: G. P. for Revenue The Court made the following : Oral Order: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice A.GOPAL REDDY) Petitioner is a registered dealer in decorticating the groundnuts into groundnut seeds or nuts. According to the petitioner, a raid was conducted on 03-02-2008 in the business premises and groundnuts and other valuable commodities were seized. Questioning the same the petitioner ﬁled W.P.No.3225 of 2008, which was disposed of on 19-03-2008 permitting the petitioner to seek release of the goods by depositing half of the value of the goods seized and by furnishing bank guarantee for the balance amount. The petitioner unsuccessfully challenged the said order in SLA No.9058 of 2008. Meanwhile, the petitioner was issued a show cause notice to which the petitioner submitted a detailed reply requesting the respondents to make available the books of accounts, which were seized along with the goods at the time of seizure, to enable it to submit income tax returns. It is submitted that the 3rd respondent, who is holding the custody of the seized goods, addressed a letter to the 1st respondent for handing over the books of accounts seized by him. In spite of the same, the 1st respondent has not returned the same. Hence the present writ petition. Learned Special Government Pleader for Taxes submits that except the goods no books of accounts as such are seized and they have no objection for handing over the books of accounts, if any, which are in the custody of the 3rd respondent after seizing the business premises. We accordingly direct the respondents 1 and 3 to open the godown in the presence of the writ petitioner by issuing a notice and return the books of accounts, if any, found in the godown under proper acknowledgement. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. No costs. _________________ A.GOPAL REDDY, J. ____________________ VILAS V.AFULPURKAR,J. 03-11-2008 Note: Issue CC in two days. (bo) Murthy ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer-III, Ananthapur. 2 The Commissioner, Commercial Tax, State of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. 3 The Tahsildar, Nallacheruvu Village & Mandal, Ananthapur District. 4. Two CCs to G.P. for Commercial Taxes (OUT). 5. Two CCs to G.P. for Revenue (OUT) 6 .2CD copies.