Limitation for setting aside ex parte assessment orders runs from the order date, not the hearing date, under sales tax law.

Section 45-A(a) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958 was construed purposively to determine when the thirty-day period for seeking to set aside an ex parte assessment order begins. The court held that the limitation is linked to the existence and passing of the ex parte order, not merely to the earlier date fixed for hearing, because the provision operates only after such an order is made. A literal reading tied to the hearing date was treated as unreasonable and unworkable. The period therefore commences from the date of the ex parte order, with the issue answered in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether, under section 45-A(a) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, the period of thirty days for applying to set aside an ex parte assessment order begins from the date fixed for hearing or from the date on which the ex parte order is actually passed.

Analysis: Section 45-A is a provision enabling a dealer to seek setting aside of an ex parte assessment order and reopening of the case. Read as a whole, its operation depends on the existence of an ex parte order, and the limitation must therefore be linked to that order rather than to a mere date fixed for hearing. A literal reading of the words "within thirty days of the date of hearing" would produce an unreasonable and unworkable result where no ex parte order has yet been made. The provision was construed in a purposive and contextual manner so that the expression is understood to mean the date of the ex parte order when the dealer had prior intimation of the hearing.

Conclusion: The limitation under section 45-A(a) commences from the date of passing of the ex parte order and not from the date fixed for hearing; the question was answered in favour of the assessee.

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