Doctrine of merger does not defeat recovery where rectification was made before appeal disposal and later attained finality.

Section 55 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959, was treated as conferring independent rectification power on the assessing, appellate and revisional authorities while the relevant order remained operative. A rectification made before disposal of the appeal against the original assessment was not displaced by the later appellate order, because the appellate disposal did not subsume the earlier rectification in a way that would invalidate it. Where the rectification order was separately challenged and attained finality, the doctrine of merger did not bar recovery under that final order, and the writ challenge to the demand notice failed.

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Issues: Whether the demand notice could be quashed on the ground that the original assessment had merged in the appellate order and that rectification under section 55 of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959, was impermissible.

Analysis: Rectification was made under section 55 before disposal of the appeal against the original assessment. The appellate order therefore did not subsume the assessment in a manner that would invalidate the earlier rectification. Section 55 conferred independent rectification power on the assessing, appellate and revisional authorities so long as the order remained operative. The rectification order was separately challenged and failed, attaining finality. In these circumstances, the doctrine of merger did not apply so as to defeat recovery, and the petitioner, having unsuccessfully pursued the rectification challenge, could not resist enforcement of the final order.

Conclusion: The demand notice was upheld and the challenge failed; the writ was not maintainable.

Final Conclusion: Recovery of the tax liability pursuant to the final rectification order was permitted, and no writ relief was granted.

Ratio Decidendi: Where rectification is validly made before disposal of the appeal and the rectification order attains finality on separate challenge, the doctrine of merger does not bar enforcement of that order despite a later appellate disposal of the original assessment.

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