Limitation for sales tax assessment requires completion within time, not just initiation of proceedings under the Act.

Section 11 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 was construed to require completion of assessment within three years from the expiry of the relevant return period for cases under sub-sections (3), (4), (5) and (6). The phrase "proceed to assess" was held, in the statutory context, to denote completion of the assessment and not merely the initiation of proceedings. A notice or other preliminary step taken only to satisfy a condition precedent did not amount to completion within limitation. As no effective assessment step was shown within time, assessments made after the three-year period were without jurisdiction and liable to be quashed.

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Issues: Whether, under section 11 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, assessment in cases falling under sub-sections (3), (4), (5) and (6) had to be completed within three years from the expiry of the relevant return period, and whether the impugned assessments made after that period were without jurisdiction.

Analysis: The scheme of sections 10 and 11 was read as distinguishing between assessments on accepted returns under sub-section (1), assessments after notice and hearing under sub-section (3), and best judgment assessments under sub-sections (4), (5) and (6). The phrase "proceed to assess" was held not to create a merely initiatory time limit; in the context of the Act it required the assessment itself to be completed within the three-year period. The decision relied on the construction placed by the Supreme Court on similar language and held that the limitation in sub-sections (4), (5) and (6) could not be treated as a bar only to the commencement of proceedings. It was also held that issuing a notice or taking steps to satisfy a condition precedent did not amount to completion of assessment, and that no effective step towards assessment within limitation had been shown on the record.

Conclusion: The three-year limit applied to completion of assessment under the relevant sub-sections of section 11, and the impugned assessments, having been made after that period, were without jurisdiction and liable to be quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing statute prescribes that the Assessing Authority shall "proceed to assess" within a specified period, the provision is construed, in the statutory context, as requiring completion of the assessment within that period and not merely the initiation of proceedings.

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