Appellate tribunal cannot enhance assessment without a valid Revenue petition or cross-objection; remand must stay within disputed turnover.

The appellate tribunal cannot enhance assessment under section 36(3)(a)(i) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 in the absence of a valid enhancement petition or Revenue cross-objection. Once the Revenue's enhancement petition under section 36(3-A) was dismissed as time-barred, the tribunal had no jurisdiction to enlarge the scope of the appeal or reopen the entire assessment for de novo consideration. A remand must remain confined to the turnover actually disputed by the assessee, and cannot extend beyond that limited subject-matter.

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Issues: Whether the Appellate Tribunal had power to enhance the assessment under section 36(3)(a)(i) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 when the Revenue's enhancement petition under section 36(3-A) had been dismissed as time-barred, and whether the remand could extend beyond the turnover actually disputed by the assessee.

Analysis: The Tribunal's remand order was found to be unclear and unsupported by reasons. The Court held that the power to enhance assessment under section 36(3)(a)(i) is not available in the absence of a valid enhancement petition or cross-objection by the Revenue. The earlier decisions referred to were held not to answer the question arising after insertion of section 36(3-A). By applying the in pari materia reasoning drawn from the Kerala statute, the Court concluded that, once the enhancement petition had been dismissed as time-barred, the Tribunal could not enlarge the scope of the appeal and could not reopen the entire assessment for de novo consideration.

Conclusion: The Tribunal had no jurisdiction to enhance the assessment beyond the disputed turnover of Rs. 3,67,513, and the matter had to be remitted only for consideration of that limited issue.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of a valid enhancement petition or cross-objection by the Revenue, the appellate tribunal cannot exercise the statutory power to enhance assessment, and a remand cannot extend beyond the subject-matter actually in dispute.

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