Escaped assessment and limitation under sales tax law led to quashing of time-barred notices for earlier years.

Where no best judgment assessment had been made and no proper return was filed, the turnover was treated as escaped assessment, making section 12 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 applicable. On that basis, the eight-year limitation under section 12(2) governed the earlier assessment years, so the proposed assessment for those years was time-barred and liable to be quashed. The objection that the writ petition was premature was rejected because the matter had already been entertained and heard on merits, and the petitioner could not then be relegated to the assessing authority for want of an earlier statutory response. The later assessment years were left open to proceed in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the notice proposing assessment for the earlier assessment years was barred by limitation on the footing that, in the absence of a completed best judgment assessment under section 10(1)(b), the case was one of escaped assessment attracting section 12 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, and whether the writ petition could be rejected as premature for failure to first respond before the assessing authority.

Analysis: The notice covered assessment years for which no best judgment assessment had been made before 7 April 1979. In such a situation, the Court applied the principle that non-filing of a proper return, or absence of assessment under section 10(1)(b), makes the turnover liable to be treated as escaped assessment, so that section 12 becomes mandatory. On that basis, the eight-year limitation under section 12(2) governed the earlier years, and the proposed assessment for those years had become time-barred. The objection that the writ petition was premature was rejected because the petition had already been entertained and heard on merits, and the petitioner could not be turned away at that stage on the ground of an unexhausted statutory remedy.

Conclusion: The notice was quashed insofar as it related to the time-barred earlier assessment years, while the assessments for the later years were left open to proceed in accordance with law.

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