Escaped turnover assessment does not annul the original assessment or create a refund right for tax already paid.

An assessment confined to escaped turnover under section 16(1)(a) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act does not reopen, revise, or supplant the original assessment. The assessing authority may bring only the escaped turnover to tax, while the completed original assessment continues to retain its operative force unless it is itself included in a composite reopening. Earlier reassessment observations were treated as context-specific and not a general rule. On that basis, the escaped-turnover order did not extinguish the original assessments and did not create any right to refund of tax paid under them.

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Issues: Whether an assessment made under section 16(1)(a) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 in respect of escaped turnover supersedes and obliterates the original assessment so as to entitle the assessee to refund of tax paid under the original assessment.

Analysis: Section 16(1)(a) empowers the assessing authority only to bring to tax turnover that had escaped assessment; it is not a provision for revision or reopening of the entire assessment. The original assessment, where not included in or affected by the escaped turnover proceedings, continues to retain its character and operative force. The broader observations in earlier decisions on reassessment were held to be context-specific and inapplicable, because those cases concerned composite or truly reopened assessments, unlike the present proceedings confined strictly to escaped turnover. A precedent must be read in the setting of the question actually decided, and isolated phrases cannot be treated as a universal rule.

Conclusion: The order under section 16(1)(a) did not set aside the original assessments and did not create any right to refund of tax already paid on those completed assessments.

Final Conclusion: The writ appeals were allowed, the writ petitions stood dismissed, and the refund granted by the learned single Judge was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment confined to escaped turnover under section 16(1)(a) does not annul or replace the original assessment unless the original assessment itself is brought within the scope of the composite order.

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