Validating clause cannot cure provisional assessment made without statutory preconditions being satisfied

A validating clause cannot save a provisional assessment made before the amending Act where the statutory preconditions were not met. The amended provision required the assessing authority to call for an advance estimate of turnover or prescribed periodical returns before determining tax on that basis. As no rules had been framed to make the machinery operative, and the dealer had not been required to furnish the necessary estimate or returns, the assessment did not satisfy the substantive conditions of the amended law. The court therefore held that the provisional assessment could not be validated and was without jurisdiction.

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Issues: Whether the provisional assessment made before the commencement of the amending Act could be sustained under the validating clause when the statutory requirement of calling for an advance estimate or periodical returns had not been complied with.

Analysis: The validating provision protected only such pre-commencement acts as could validly have been done under the principal Act as amended. The amended provision contemplated that, before a provisional assessment, the assessing authority must require the dealer to furnish an advance estimate of turnover or periodical returns as prescribed, after which the tax payable could be determined on the basis of the return or previous-year transactions. No rules had yet been framed to make the machinery workable, and the assessee had not been called upon to furnish the required estimate or returns. The construction suggested for the revenue would permit the authority to ignore the statutory requirement altogether, which was not permissible.

Conclusion: The provisional assessment could not be validated under the amending Act and was made without jurisdiction.

Ratio Decidendi: A validating clause cannot sustain a pre-amendment assessment unless the assessment satisfies the substantive conditions of the amended provision that authorise it.

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