Limitation in revision proceedings can raise a question of law when dismissal as time-barred flows from the substantive revisional order.

An order dismissing a revision application as time-barred under the U.P. Sales Tax Act was treated as an order under the substantive revisional provision, because the limitation rule only fixed the filing period and did not create a separate category of order. The legality of the dismissal therefore raised a question of law arising from the revising authority's order, making a statutory reference maintainable. The contrary view was rejected, and the reference was answered in favour of maintainability.

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Issues: Whether an order dismissing a revision application as barred by limitation under section 10(3) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act gives rise to a question of law so as to permit a reference under section 11 of that Act.

Analysis: The limitation question was treated as a legal question because it had to be decided by applying the statutory limitation provisions governing revision. The scheme of section 10 showed that the revising authority's power to pass orders lay in section 10(3)(i), while section 10(3-B) only fixed the time for filing the revision application and did not create a separate category of order dismissing a revision as time-barred. An order rejecting the revision as barred by limitation was therefore still an order under section 10(3)(i), and the issue of limitation arose out of that order. The contrary view was rejected, and support was drawn from the principle that rejection of a proceeding as time-barred does not prevent the order from being treated as one made under the substantive adjudicatory provision.

Conclusion: The question whether the revision application was rightly dismissed as barred by limitation was held to be a question of law arising out of the revising authority's order, and a reference under section 11 was held maintainable.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered in favour of maintainability, and the assessee succeeded on the referred question.

Ratio Decidendi: An order dismissing a revision as time-barred remains an order under the substantive revisional provision, and the legality of such dismissal is a question of law capable of reference under the statutory reference provision.

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