Limitation challenge to assessment order succeeds where the record fails to prove the order was made within time.

An assessment order challenged as time-barred was invalidated where the record did not satisfactorily prove that it was made within four years of the earlier appellate order. The demand notice was served later, the assessment copy was obtained only afterwards, and the respondents failed to produce the issue register or other reliable evidence to show that the order was ready for despatch on the stated date. In these circumstances, the Tribunal drew a presumption that the order was not made on the date it bore, or was made after expiry of the limitation period, and set aside the assessment order and consequential demand notice.

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Issues: Whether the impugned assessment order was barred by limitation and liable to be set aside on the ground that the order purportedly made on 25 August 1993 was not shown to have been made within four years from the earlier appellate order dated 27 December 1989.

Analysis: The demand notice was served only on 1 November 1994 and the copy of the assessment order was obtained on 7 November 1994, while the respondents failed to produce the issue register to establish that the notice was actually ready for despatch on the earlier date mentioned in the record. In the absence of a satisfactory explanation, a presumption arose that the assessment order was not made on the date it purported to bear or was made after expiry of the prescribed limitation period. Following the principle that an unexplained delay and incongruity in service may justify a presumption against the stated date of the order, the Tribunal held that the assessment could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The limitation objection succeeded and the impugned assessment order and consequential demand notice were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an order is challenged on limitation and the record does not satisfactorily prove that it was made on the date it purports to bear, the court may presume that it was made after the expiry of the limitation period and invalidate it.

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