Retrospective tax amendments cannot validate earlier assessments absent express statutory retrospective operation.

A statutory amendment introducing Section 3(1-A) of the Tamil Nadu Entertainments Tax Act, 1939 could not be applied retrospectively to sustain an assessment for the period 1 November 1962 to 17 May 1964, because the amendment was enacted only by Tamil Nadu Act 1 of 1974 and contained no express retrospective operation. The assessment period predated the amendment, so the new provision could not validate the demand or the impugned order. The order was therefore contrary to law, the writ petition succeeded, and the assessment order was set aside without remand due to limitation.

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Issues: Whether Section 3(1-A) of the Tamil Nadu Entertainments Tax Act, 1939 could be applied retrospectively to sustain the impugned assessment for the period 1 November 1962 to 17 May 1964, and whether the impugned order was therefore liable to be quashed.

Analysis: The amendment introducing Section 3(1-A) was brought into the Act only by Tamil Nadu Act 1 of 1974. No retrospective operation was indicated in the enactment. The assessment in question related to a period long anterior to the amendment. On that footing, the newly introduced provision could not be invoked to justify the demand or validate the impugned order. The reasoning in the earlier decision relied upon by the petitioner was treated as applicable, and the impugned order was held to be contrary to law.

Conclusion: Section 3(1-A) was not applicable retrospectively to the assessment period in question, and the impugned order could not be sustained. The finding was in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded, the assessment order was set aside, and no remand was ordered because of limitation.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory amendment creating a tax liability or validating a demand cannot be applied to an earlier assessment period unless retrospective operation is clearly provided by the statute itself.

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