Limitation for tax reference applications runs from communication of the order, and pending proceedings remain under the old Act.

Limitation for a reference application ran from communication of the Tribunal's order, not from the date of the order itself, because Rule 42 required a copy to be supplied and limitation did not begin until the order was communicated where the parties were absent. On the transitional issue, section 48(2)(ii) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 preserved pending legal proceedings, including assessment proceedings, and an application for reference was treated as a continuation of that proceeding. The reference application therefore remained governed by the sixty-day period under section 23 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1946, not the ninety-day period under section 34 of the 1953 Act, and was held time-barred.

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Issues: Whether the period of limitation for an application for reference to the High Court began from the date of the Tribunal's order or from the date on which the order was communicated to the assessee, and whether the application was governed by section 34 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 or section 23 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1946.

Analysis: Rule 42 of the Bombay Sales Tax (Procedure) Rules, 1954 obliged the supply of a copy of the appellate or revisional order, and where the order was not made in the presence of the parties, limitation for seeking a reference did not begin until communication of the order. On the larger question, section 48(2)(ii) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 saved pending legal proceedings and required them to be continued and disposed of as if the new Act had not been passed, while section 48(2)(iii) dealt separately with liabilities in respect of which proceedings had not been instituted. The expression "legal proceeding" was held to include assessment proceedings, and an application for reference to the High Court was a continuation of the pending assessment proceeding. Accordingly, the reference application remained governed by the sixty-day period under section 23 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1946, not the ninety-day period under section 34 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953.

Conclusion: The reference application was barred by limitation under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1946 and was incompetent.

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