(1) If the Commissioner has reason to believe that the whole or any part of the turnover of the dealer in respect of any period has escaped assessment to tax or has been under-assessed or any deduction or exemption have been wrongly allowed in respect thereof or the turnover is assessed at a lower rate than the one applicable under this Act, Commissioner may, subject to sub-section (2), at any time within a period of 78[eight years] from the expiry of the year to which the tax relates, proceed to assess or re-assess to the best of his judgement the tax, payable by the dealer in respect of such turnover after issuing a notice in the prescribed manner to the dealer and after making such enquiry as it may consider necessary.
(2) In making an assessment under sub-section (1), the Commissioner may, if he is satisfied that the escape from assessment is due to willful non-disclosure of assessable turnover by the dealer, direct the dealer to pay, in addition to the tax assessed, a penalty, not exceeding twice the amount of tax so assessed, but not less than the amount of tax due.
(3) No assessment under sub-section (1) or penalty under sub-section (2) shall be made or levied without giving a reasonable opportunity to the dealer of being heard.