Limitation under sales tax law excludes only stays by a civil or competent court; revisional stay did not qualify.

For limitation under section 21(2) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, the exclusion for time during which proceedings are stayed applied only when the stay was granted by a civil or other competent court. The Judge (Revisions), Sales Tax, though acting judicially and exercising powers resembling those of a court, was an authority constituted under the Act to supervise assessment proceedings and not a court in the statutory sense. The Act itself distinguished between a court and an authority, so the stay ordered by the revisional authority did not qualify for exclusion under the explanation to section 21(2). The assessment made after 3 February 1962 was therefore barred by limitation.

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Issues: Whether, for purposes of limitation under section 21(2) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, the period during which assessment proceedings were stayed by the Judge (Revisions), Sales Tax, could be excluded as a period stayed under the order of a civil or other competent court.

Analysis: The exclusion clause in section 21(2) applied only where the stay was granted by a civil or other competent court. The revisional authority under the U.P. Sales Tax Act, though required to act judicially and though invested with certain powers resembling those of a court, was nevertheless an authority constituted under the Act to supervise assessment proceedings and did not exercise the judicial power of the State in the strict sense. The statutory scheme itself distinguished between a court and an authority, and the Legislature used those expressions in different senses. The stay granted by the Judge (Revisions), therefore, did not fall within the statutory expression used in the explanation to section 21(2).

Conclusion: The period during which the assessment proceedings were stayed by the Judge (Revisions), Sales Tax, could not be excluded, and the assessment made after 3rd February, 1962, was barred by limitation.

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