Powdering of locally purchased spices did not create a new taxable commodity, and stale reassessment lacked statutory basis.

Locally purchased turmeric and black and white pepper, when only powdered, retained their commercial identity and did not become a new notified commodity under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954. On the facts stated, the dealer was neither an importer nor a processor bringing a new taxable product into existence, so a further levy on the ground of manufacture or processing was unsustainable. A belated reassessment notice was also invalid because it lacked adequate fresh material, did not satisfy section 9(3), and could not be rescued by borrowing a longer period from the Limitation Act. The later 48-month limit under section 9(3A) reinforced the statutory bar.

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Issues: (i) Whether locally purchased turmeric and black and white pepper, when only powdered by the dealer, became a different notified commodity so as to attract tax under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954; (ii) Whether the impugned notice and proposed reassessment after many years were lawful in the absence of a sufficient statutory basis and in view of the limitation scheme.

Issue (i): Whether locally purchased turmeric and black and white pepper, when only powdered by the dealer, became a different notified commodity so as to attract tax under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954.

Analysis: The turnover related to goods purchased locally in West Bengal on which tax had already been paid and which had earlier been accepted in assessments as not exigible to further levy. The definition of dealer covered a person who manufactures, makes, processes, or brings notified commodities into West Bengal for sale. On the facts found, the petitioners were neither importers nor manufacturers or processors; powdering merely changed the form of the same commodity without altering its commercial identity. The scheme of the Act and the notifications indicated a single-point levy and did not support taxation again merely because the commodity was ground into powder. The notice, therefore, proceeded on an erroneous basis that the petitioners fell within the charging definition.

Conclusion: The petitioners were not liable to be treated as dealers manufacturing or processing a new taxable commodity by powdering the locally purchased goods, and the attempted levy on that footing was unsustainable.

Issue (ii): Whether the impugned notice and proposed reassessment after many years were lawful in the absence of a sufficient statutory basis and in view of the limitation scheme.

Analysis: The assessing authority had already accepted the petitioners' returns and materials in prior years, and the record showed no adequate fresh material to justify reopening after about twelve years. The Court held that the relevant notice was not supported by the requirements of section 9(3) of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954. It also accepted that the later insertion of section 9(3A) introduced a 48-month outer limit for completion of assessment, reinforcing the impropriety of the belated action. The contention that a longer limitation could be borrowed from the Limitation Act was rejected.

Conclusion: The notice and proposed reassessment were bad in law and barred by the statutory limitation framework as applied to the case.

Final Conclusion: The petition succeeded, the impugned assessment notice was quashed, and the authorities were not permitted to reopen the settled assessments on the same materials.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a notified commodity is merely reduced to powder after local purchase and retains its essential identity, and where prior assessments have accepted the same factual basis, the dealer cannot be taxed again as if a new manufactured or processed commodity had emerged, nor can stale reassessment be sustained without statutory authority and within the prescribed limitation regime.

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