Validating amendment for declared goods tax upheld where retrospective review and reassessment cured the earlier statutory defect.

The amended Punjab General Sales Tax Act scheme fixed the taxable stage for declared goods at the last purchase or last sale by the dealer liable to tax, and section 11AA authorised review and reassessment of earlier assessments to align them with the amended law. The later Supreme Court ruling in Rattan Lal and Co. was treated as controlling, on the basis that the validating amendment removed the defect in the prior law. Retrospective operation of the amendment did not invalidate the levy where the dealer could determine its own liability as last purchaser or seller, and the reassessment notice was therefore sustained in law.

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Issues: Whether the amended provisions of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, particularly section 5 and section 11AA, validly authorised review and levy of purchase tax on declared goods so as to sustain the impugned notice and assessment.

Analysis: The amended scheme fixed the taxable stage in the case of declared goods at the last purchase or last sale by the dealer liable to pay tax, and section 11AA provided for review of earlier assessments and reassessments to bring them into conformity with the amended Act. The Court treated the later Supreme Court ruling in Rattan Lal and Co. as ative, holding that the amended provisions removed the defect found in the earlier law. The dealer was regarded as having sufficient knowledge of its own position to determine whether it was the last purchaser or seller liable to tax, and the retrospective operation of the validating amendment did not invalidate the levy.

Conclusion: The notice and reassessment were held to be valid, and the challenge to them failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, the writ petition was dismissed, and the impugned assessment notice was sustained in law.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a validating amendment clearly fixes the taxable stage for declared goods at the last purchase or last sale by the dealer liable to tax and provides for review of prior assessments, the levy is not invalid merely because the amendment operates retrospectively.

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