Reassessment limitation and revisional jurisdiction under sales tax law: fresh material after expiry could not sustain the reassessment.

Reassessment based on escaped or under-assessed turnover must proceed under the specific reassessment provision and within the prescribed limitation period, while the revisional power is confined to examining legality or propriety on the existing record. Where the revising authority relied on fresh material obtained after the original assessment rather than the assessment record itself, the action could not be sustained as a revision. Because the reassessment was founded on such fresh material after expiry of the three-year limitation period, it was held illegal and unsustainable; the matter was therefore governed by the reassessment provision and not by the revisional provision, in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the revisional action and consequent reassessment were governed by section 11-A or section 21(1) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, and whether the reassessment made after the limitation period was valid.

Analysis: Section 11-A empowers reassessment where turnover has escaped assessment or been under-assessed on the basis of definite information, subject to the prescribed limitation. Section 21(1) confers revisional power to examine legality or propriety of proceedings on the existing record, and fresh material may be relied upon only if the reassessment remains within the limitation period applicable to escaped or under-assessed turnover. The material used by the revising authority included fresh evidence obtained after the original assessment, not merely the record already before the assessing authority. Since the reassessment was founded on such fresh material after expiry of the three-year period, the action could not be sustained under the revisional provision.

Conclusion: The matter fell within section 11-A and not section 21(1), and the reassessment made after expiry of limitation was illegal, in favour of the assessee.

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