Limitation for escaped assessment applies to best judgment assessment of an unregistered dealer, barring consequential penalty too.

The limitation period for escaped assessment under section 15 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 was held to govern a best judgment assessment of an unregistered dealer under section 14(6), because the statutory scheme treated that proceeding as one for escaped turnover. Reading sections 14 and 15 together, the court applied the same limitation logic used for dealers who failed to file returns, and rejected a distinction that would have left unregistered dealers outside the time bar. As the proposed assessment was time-barred, the consequential penalty under section 14(7), which depended on a valid section 14(6) assessment, also could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether the period of limitation prescribed for escaped assessment under section 15 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 applies to a best judgment assessment of an unregistered dealer under section 14(6), and to the consequential penalty under section 14(7).

Analysis: The assessment proposed under section 14(6) was treated as an assessment of escaped turnover, because the dealer had failed to register and had submitted no return. The scheme of sections 14 and 15 was read as a whole, and the limitation governing escaped assessment was held to apply to all proceedings whose substance was assessment of escaped turnover. The same reasoning that applied to best judgment assessments of dealers who failed to file returns was extended to an unregistered dealer under section 14(6), since a contrary view would create an incongruous distinction within the same statutory scheme. As the proposed assessment was time-barred under section 15, the penalty under section 14(7), which could arise only in the course of a valid section 14(6) assessment, also could not stand.

Conclusion: The limitation period under section 15 applies to assessment proceedings under section 14(6), and the proposed penalty under section 14(7) is also unavailable where the assessment itself is time-barred.

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