Reassessment requires a prior assessment; section 19(1) cannot be used to make a first assessment.

Section 19(1) of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 applies only where a prior assessment already exists and tax in that assessment was under-assessed, escaped, or otherwise wrongly computed. Because no original assessment had been made for the relevant years, the statutory condition precedent for reopening was absent, and the provision could not be used as a general power to make a first assessment. The reassessments were therefore not sustainable.

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Issues: Whether section 19(1) of the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 could be invoked to reopen and reassess years for which no original assessment had been made.

Analysis: The statutory language of section 19 applies where an assessment has already been made and, in that assessment, tax has been under-assessed, escaped, or assessed at a lower rate, or a deduction has been wrongly made. The reopening power is therefore contingent upon the existence of a prior assessment. Where no assessment had been made for the relevant years, the condition precedent for invoking section 19 was absent. The provision could not be used as a general power to make a first assessment.

Conclusion: Section 19(1) could not be invoked in the absence of an earlier assessment, and the reassessments were not sustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment provision that is expressly predicated on an existing assessment cannot be applied where no original assessment has been made.

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