Limited remand confines reassessment powers; escaped turnover must be assessed through separate statutory proceedings.

In a reassessment proceeding following a remand confined to rechecking calculations and verifying tax actually collected under section 8-A(4), the assessing authority could not expand the enquiry into a fresh assessment of the entire escaped turnover. The remand order controlled the officer's jurisdiction, and a limited remand did not authorise a de novo reassessment beyond the specified issues. Any escaped turnover had to be brought to tax through the separate statutory procedure under section 21, subject to its notice and other conditions. The authority was therefore not competent to assess enhanced or escaped turnover within the restricted remand proceedings, and the assessee succeeded on that point.

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Issues: Whether, in reassessment proceedings pursuant to a remand confined to rechecking calculations and examining tax actually collected under section 8-A(4), the Sales Tax Officer could reopen and assess the entire escaped turnover afresh in the same proceedings, or whether separate proceedings under section 21 were necessary.

Analysis: Upon remand, the assessing authority was bound by the terms of the remand order. Where a remand merely authorises a fresh assessment without restriction, the authority may exercise the full original jurisdiction. But where the remand is limited to a specified enquiry, the authority cannot travel beyond that field. An assessment already completed can be reopened only under the statutory provisions permitting escaped assessment, rectification, or ex parte reassessment, and escaped turnover cannot be introduced in a restricted remand proceeding unless the remand itself so permits. Here the appellate order confined the enquiry to rechecking the calculations and verifying the amount realised under section 8-A(4); it did not authorise a de novo assessment of the entire turnover. If any turnover had escaped assessment, recourse had to be taken under section 21, subject to the statutory conditions and notice requirements.

Conclusion: The Sales Tax Officer was not competent to assess the enhanced or escaped turnover in the reassessment proceedings under the limited remand order; separate proceedings under section 21 were required. The answer is in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: In a remand proceeding, the assessing authority's jurisdiction is confined to the limits of the remand order, and escaped turnover can be assessed only through the statutory escaped-assessment machinery when the remand does not authorise a general reassessment.

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