Reassessment for lower tax rate is valid where the correct rate was not applied to turnover under the sales tax law.

Section 14(4) of the A.P. General Sales Tax Act empowered the assessing authority to reopen and reassess turnover not only when it had escaped assessment or been under-assessed, but also when tax had been levied at a rate lower than the correct rate. Because the admitted position was that the correct rate had not been applied to the relevant turnover, the statutory power was attracted. The Tribunal erred in restricting reassessment to cases of fresh material or clerical mistake and in sending the matter to section 20; the reassessment was therefore authorised in law.

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Issues: Whether section 14(4) of the A.P. General Sales Tax Act empowered the assessing authority to reopen and reassess the turnover when tax had been levied at a lower rate than the correct rate, without the case being confined to newly discovered material or correction of clerical mistake.

Analysis: The provision expressly covered not only turnover that had escaped assessment or been under-assessed, but also turnover that had been assessed at a rate lower than the correct rate. The reassessment in these revisions arose from the admitted position that the correct rate applicable to the relevant turnover had not been applied. That circumstance squarely attracted the statutory power under section 14(4). The power was not limited to cases involving fresh material or mistake correction, and the Tribunal erred in confining it to such situations or in relegating the matter to section 20.

Conclusion: Section 14(4) authorized the assessing authority to make the reassessment, and the Tribunal's contrary view was in law.

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