Escaped assessment limitation bars delayed proceedings where no return was filed and a mere summons cannot replace statutory notice.

Where no prescribed return was filed, the omission was treated as escaped assessment under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, so the limitation period for escaped-assessment proceedings applied. A form 51 direction to produce documents, or a summons of that kind, did not amount to the statutory notice required to commence proceedings under section 19, because it did not show initiation of escaped-assessment action. As the notice was issued nearly nine years after the end of the assessment year, the proceedings were held time-barred and the assessment orders could not stand.

---

---

Issues: Whether an assessment initiated under section 17(3) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, after no return was filed and after a long delay, was barred by limitation under section 19, and whether a form 51 notice or summons could save the limitation.

Analysis: The dealer had not filed the prescribed returns. In such a situation, the omission was treated as an escaped assessment rather than a mere regular best judgment assessment. Once the matter is one of escaped assessment, the limitation period under section 19 applies. A mere direction in form 51 to produce documents does not amount to the statutory notice required for proceedings under section 19, because it does not show that the assessing authority had commenced escaped-assessment proceedings. The notice issued nearly nine years after the end of the assessment year was therefore beyond time.

Conclusion: The assessment proceedings were barred by limitation and the assessment orders could not stand.

Final Conclusion: The revision was allowed and the assessment was set aside on the ground that proceedings for escaped turnover had not been initiated within the prescribed time.

Ratio Decidendi: Where no return is filed, the turnover is to be treated as escaped assessment and the assessment must be initiated within the limitation period applicable to escaped assessments; a mere summons to produce records does not satisfy that requirement.

---