Reopened assessment order governs rectification limitation when section 21 proceedings supersede the original assessment.

When assessment is reopened under section 21 of the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax Act, 1948, the order made in those proceedings becomes the operative assessment order for limitation under section 22. The original assessment ceases to govern the limitation period for matters reopened, and the principle of merger applies to the section 21 order in relation to the earlier assessment. Limitation must therefore run from the later order, even where no additional tax is levied and the reassessment is not framed in formal reassessment language. On that basis, the rectification application was held to be within time.

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Issues: Whether, for an application for rectification under section 22 of the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax Act, 1948, the period of limitation runs from the date of the original assessment order or from the date of the order passed under section 21 reopening the assessment.

Analysis: The original assessment for the relevant year was followed by proceedings under section 21, in which the assessing authority reopened the matter and, after examining the books of account, held that no further tax was payable. The Court held that once assessment proceedings are reopened under section 21, the original assessment does not continue to govern the field for limitation purposes. An order passed at the conclusion of section 21 proceedings is to be treated as the operative assessment order, even if it results in no additional tax and is not couched in formal reassessment language. The principle of merger applies to the reassessment order in relation to the original assessment for the matters reopened, and limitation under section 22 must be counted from that later order.

Conclusion: The application for rectification was within time when computed from the section 21 order, and the assessee was entitled to succeed.

Ratio Decidendi: When assessment is reopened under section 21 of the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax Act, 1948, the order made in those proceedings becomes the operative assessment order for purposes of limitation under section 22, even if no additional tax is ultimately levied.

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