Escaped assessment under sales tax rules excludes a final assessment completed after a provisional assessment in pending proceedings.

Rule 33(1) of the Travancore-Cochin General Sales Tax Rules, 1950 was construed as applying only where turnover had truly escaped assessment, meaning it had not been subjected to assessment at all. It did not extend to a case where assessment proceedings were already pending and the dealer had been provisionally assessed, followed by a final assessment in the ordinary course. On that reading, the later completion of the regular assessment was not a reassessment of escaped turnover, so the limitation in rule 33(1) did not govern the final assessment.

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Issues: Whether a final sales tax assessment made after a provisional assessment was barred by limitation under rule 33(1) of the Travancore-Cochin General Sales Tax Rules, 1950, on the footing that the turnover had "escaped assessment".

Analysis: Rule 33(1) was held to apply to cases where turnover had escaped assessment, not to a case where assessment proceedings were already pending and the dealer had been provisionally assessed. The expression "escaped assessment" was construed in its ordinary legal sense as referring to income or turnover that had not been subjected to assessment at all in the relevant proceedings, and not to a situation where an assessment was later completed in the normal course. Reliance on authorities construing similar language in income-tax and sales-tax statutes was rejected as inapposite to the facts, because the case involved completion of a regular assessment following a provisional one, not a reassessment of escaped turnover.

Conclusion: The limitation prescribed by rule 33(1) did not apply, and the assessment was valid.

Ratio Decidendi: Where assessment proceedings are pending or a provisional assessment has already been made, the turnover does not "escape assessment" merely because the final assessment is completed later in the ordinary course.

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