Dissolution of a registered firm did not bar pending sales tax assessment where statutory intimation was not given.

A registered partnership firm remained liable to sales tax assessment where dissolution was not intimated to the prescribed authority as required by the Act and Rules. The statutory scheme treated the dealer's registration and liability as continuing until intimation of dissolution and consequential cancellation of registration, and assessment proceedings validly initiated while the firm was still in existence could be completed despite later dissolution. The earlier Full Bench decision was distinguished on its facts. The assessment was therefore treated as valid, and subsequent dissolution did not defeat the pending proceedings or the power to assess the firm for the relevant business period.

---

---

Issues: Whether a partnership firm, dissolved after assessment proceedings had already been initiated, could still be assessed to sales tax in the absence of the intimation of dissolution required by the Act and the Rules.

Analysis: The statutory scheme treated a registered dealer as continuing to be liable until the prescribed authority was informed of dissolution or other change and the registration was cancelled. The Act imposed a duty to intimate dissolution, and the Rules linked cancellation of registration and cessation of liability to such intimation and consequential action by the department. The firm remained a registered dealer at the time of assessment, no valid notice of dissolution had been given before the assessment was completed, and the assessment proceedings had been initiated while the firm was still in existence. On that footing, the earlier Full Bench decision was distinguished on its facts, and the subsequent dissolution could not terminate the pending proceedings or defeat the power to assess the firm for the period during which it carried on business.

Conclusion: The assessment was valid and the writ petition was not maintainable on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a registered firm remains subject to the statutory duty to intimate dissolution and no such intimation is given before assessment, proceedings validly initiated while the firm was in existence may be carried to completion notwithstanding its subsequent dissolution.

---