Retrospective tax revision upheld where section 40 authorised reopening of finalised assessments under the Haryana sales tax law.

Retrospective tax legislation can validly authorise revisional action even where the original assessments had already become final before the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 came into force. The court treated section 40 as operating retrospectively and held that the relevant question was whether the authority was competent when it acted, not whether the earlier assessments had attained finality. The revisional provision was also regarded as replacing the corresponding Punjab Act provision and operating in pari materia with it. The revisional action under section 40 was therefore upheld, and the reference was answered in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the revisional power under section 40 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 could be invoked to reopen assessments that had already been finalised before the enactment of the Act.

Analysis: The assessment orders had become final before the Haryana Act came into force, but the relevant provision was expressly given retrospective effect. The legislature was competent to enact tax legislation retrospectively, and the challenge based on finality of the earlier assessments did not prevail because the material consideration was whether the authority was competent on the date it acted. The revisional provision was also treated as replacing the corresponding earlier provision in the Punjab Act and was held to operate in pari materia with it.

Conclusion: The revisional action under section 40 was valid, and the answer to the reference was in the affirmative, against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

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