Limitation for fresh sales tax assessment runs only from finality of the Tribunal's order, not the initial appellate decision.

The three-year limitation for fresh assessment under section 18(8) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958 did not run from the Tribunal's appellate order while reference proceedings under section 44 were pending. The statutory scheme treated the appellate order as non-final until the reference was decided and the Tribunal acted on the High Court's advisory opinion. Limitation therefore commenced only when the order attained finality, including on dismissal of the reference proceedings where no reference was ultimately made. On that basis, the reassessment proceedings were not barred by time.

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Issues: Whether the three-year limitation for making a fresh assessment under section 18(8) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958 began from the date of the Tribunal's appellate order or only from the date when that order attained finality after the reference proceedings under section 44.

Analysis: Section 18(8) required a fresh assessment to be made within three calendar years from the date of the order containing the finding or direction, and section 44 showed that an appellate order of the Tribunal was not final while a reference application under section 44 remained pending. The statutory scheme made the Tribunal's appellate order subject to the High Court's advisory opinion, and the appeal stood finally disposed of only after the reference was decided and the Tribunal acted accordingly. Until then, the order was not final and the limitation period could not be treated as having commenced from the earlier appellate order. Even where no reference was ultimately made, the period would run from the dismissal of the reference proceedings.

Conclusion: The limitation under section 18(8) did not begin from the Tribunal's appellate order while the reference applications were pending; the reassessment proceedings were not barred by time.

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