Reassessment limitation under sales tax law turns on timely notice, not final order, while merits still need reconsideration.

Section 16 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act permits reassessment of escaped turnover if action is initiated within five years from the end of the relevant year. A notice issued within that limitation period preserved jurisdiction even though the reassessment order was passed later, so the reassessment was not time-barred. However, the appellate authorities had not examined the merits of the alleged escapement or the penalty in light of the subsequent tribunal order, so the matter required reconsideration on those issues.

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Issues: Whether reassessment proceedings under section 16 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 were barred by limitation when the notice was issued within five years but the final reassessment order was made after expiry of that period, and whether the matter should be reconsidered on merits.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of section 16(1)(a) permits reassessment of escaped turnover within five years from the expiry of the relevant year, and the court applied the principle that, in such sales tax proceedings, the decisive factor is the initiation of reassessment action within the prescribed period and not the completion of the final order within that period. Relying on the construction earlier adopted in analogous sales tax decisions, the court held that a notice issued before expiry of limitation preserved jurisdiction to proceed, and section 16(4) did not curtail that construction. At the same time, the appellate authorities had not examined the merits of the alleged escapement or the propriety of the penalty in the light of the subsequent tribunal order.

Conclusion: The reassessment was not invalid on the ground of limitation, but the matter required reconsideration on merits, including the addition to turnover and penalty.

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