Remand order findings do not attain finality when no appeal lies against the remand itself, allowing later reconsideration.

A finding recorded in support of a remand order does not attain finality merely because it criticises the account books, where no appeal lies against the remand itself. Under the appellate scheme, only an order adverse to the assessee is appealable, not isolated reasons or observations contained in a remand. Since the earlier order had set aside the assessment and directed fresh disposal, the adverse remark about the books did not bar later reconsideration by the higher appellate authority when the matter came before it in a competent appeal. The account books could therefore be re-examined, and the revision failed.

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Issues: Whether a remark in an earlier remand order that the account books were unreliable became final so as to prevent the Appellate Tribunal from directing a fresh examination of those books in the subsequent appeal.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under section 14(4) of the General Sales Tax Act, 1125, made appellate orders final subject to further remedies, but an appeal lay only against an order adverse to the assessee and not merely against reasons or findings recorded in support of a remand. The earlier order had set aside the assessment and remanded the matter for fresh disposal, so no appeal could have been filed against it in the absence of a subsisting assessment order. The adverse observation regarding the books was therefore only a finding forming part of the remand and did not attain such finality as to bar reconsideration by the higher appellate authority when the matter later came properly before it.

Conclusion: The earlier remand did not preclude the Appellate Tribunal from ordering fresh examination of the account books, and the revision petition failed.

Final Conclusion: An unappealable finding contained in a remand order does not become final in a manner that bars the higher appellate authority from reconsidering the issue in a later competent appeal.

Ratio Decidendi: A finding recorded in support of a remand order, where no appeal lies against the remand itself, does not attain finality so as to prevent the higher appellate authority from reopening the issue in a subsequent appeal properly filed.

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