Reassessment limitation under sales tax law runs from initiation of proceedings, not the date of the final order.

Reassessment proceedings for escaped turnover under section 19 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act were held to be in time because limitation is satisfied when the notice initiating proceedings is issued within the prescribed four-year period. The assessing authority had issued section 19 notices within time, so the revised assessment made later was treated as a continuation of validly commenced proceedings rather than a fresh, time-barred action. The provision was construed to cover the assessment process as a whole, not only the date of the final order. On that basis, the challenge to the remand order on limitation grounds failed.

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Issues: Whether the revised assessment made under section 19 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, was time-barred because the final order was passed after the expiry of four years from the end of the assessment year.

Analysis: Section 19 required the assessing authority to proceed to determine escaped turnover and assess the tax payable after issuing notice and giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard. The material point was when the proceedings commenced, not when the final order was ultimately made. Since the notices under section 19 were issued within the four-year period, the reassessment proceedings had validly commenced in time. The later revised assessment, though made after expiry of the limitation period, was a continuation of proceedings already instituted within time. The expression used in the provision was read in the wider sense of assessment proceedings as a whole, not merely the final order.

Conclusion: The revised assessment was not time-barred and the challenge to the remand order on that ground failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For escaped assessment proceedings, limitation is satisfied if the reassessment proceedings are commenced within the prescribed period, and the final order may validly be passed thereafter.

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