Doctrine of merger bars revisional reopening of concluded assessment; escaped-assessment remedy must be used instead.

Where an assessment order has been carried in appeal, the entire assessment merges in the appellate order, and a revisional notice cannot be used to reopen matters already forming part of that assessment for the same year. The proper course for any escaped turnover or income is to invoke the separate escaped-assessment machinery, not to start fresh revision proceedings under section 10-B after the assessment and first appellate orders have been passed. The notices issued under section 10-B and the proceedings based on them were therefore invalid and liable to be quashed.

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Issues: Whether notices issued under section 10-B of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 could validly seek revision of matters forming part of an assessment order and first appellate order for the same assessment year, in view of the doctrine of merger and the statutory scheme permitting escaped-assessment proceedings under section 21.

Analysis: The Court followed the settled principle that where an assessment order is carried in appeal, the entire assessment order merges in the appellate order, and revisional power cannot be exercised to reopen that assessment under a revisional provision analogous to section 10-B. The Court accepted the reasoning that the appellate authority has wide powers, including confirmation, variation, annulment and enhancement, and that the merger is not limited only to points actually urged in appeal. If any income or turnover had escaped assessment, the appropriate course was to invoke the escaped-assessment provision and not to begin fresh revision proceedings under section 10-B for the same assessment year after the assessment and appellate orders had already been passed.

Conclusion: The notices under section 10-B and the proceedings founded on them were invalid and liable to be quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: Once an assessment order has been carried in appeal and adjudicated, the entire assessment merges in the appellate order, and revisional jurisdiction cannot be used to reopen that assessment for the same year when the statute provides a separate mechanism for escaped assessment.

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