Communication of assessment order for limitation requires express authority to receive the order, not merely notices or documents.

For limitation under section 55(4) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, communication of an assessment order requires service on the assessee or on a person expressly authorised to receive that assessment order. An authority limited to receiving notices or documents in the pending assessment proceedings does not extend to receipt of the final assessment order, because such authority ends when the assessment proceedings culminate. The distinction between an order and a document was reinforced by the service rules and the separate treatment of both expressions in the certified copies provision. Service on the employee therefore did not amount to valid communication to the assessee.

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Issues: Whether service of the assessment order on an employee holding a written authority to receive notices or documents in connection with the assessment proceedings amounted to communication of the assessment order for the purpose of limitation under section 55(4) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959.

Analysis: The limitation period for an appeal begins only from the date of communication of the order appealed against. The authority relied upon authorised the holder to receive notices or documents in connection with the proceedings, but it did not expressly extend to receipt of an assessment order. Assessment proceedings terminate with the final order of assessment, so any authority tied to appearance in those proceedings comes to an end with that final order. The later amendment to the service rules also indicated that an order was not treated as synonymous with a document for purposes of service. The provision dealing with certified copies separately referred to a document and an order, reinforcing the distinction between the two expressions.

Conclusion: Service of the assessment order on the employee did not amount to valid communication of the assessment order to the assessee, and the Tribunal was correct in law.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purpose of limitation, communication of an assessment order requires service on the assessee or on a person duly authorised to receive that assessment order, and an authority to receive notices or documents in the pending proceedings does not by itself include authority to receive the assessment order after the proceedings have culminated in the final assessment order.

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