Jurisdiction on remand in sales tax reassessment must remain with the statutory assessing authority, not the revisional body.

On remand after revision in a sales tax assessment, the fresh assessment had to be made by the statutory authority competent under the Act, not by a revisional body acting outside its jurisdiction. The Court noted that a remand sends the matter back for reassessment in accordance with law, and that the Sales Tax Officer lacked jurisdiction on the facts because the turnover exceeded the prescribed limit. It also held that prior revisional orders had attained finality and could not be altered in the manner directed by the Tribunal. The Tribunal was therefore not right in directing the Additional Commissioner of Sales Tax to pass the final order under the Act.

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Issues: Whether, on remand after revision, the Tribunal was right in directing the Additional Commissioner of Sales Tax to pass the final order under section 39(2) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958.

Analysis: The revisional order had set aside the earlier assessments and remanded the matter for fresh assessment in accordance with law. A remand ordinarily sends the matter back to the authority competent under the statute to make the assessment. The Court held that the Sales Tax Officer had no jurisdiction to make the fresh assessment on the facts of the case because the turnover exceeded the prescribed limit, and therefore the proper authority to proceed with the reassessment was the assessing authority having lawful jurisdiction, not the revisional authority. The earlier revisional orders had also attained finality and could not be altered by the Tribunal in the manner directed.

Conclusion: The answer is in the negative. The Tribunal was not right in directing the Additional Commissioner of Sales Tax to pass final orders under section 39(2) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, and the decision is in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a revisional authority remands a sales tax assessment for fresh assessment according to law, the reassessment must be made by the statutory authority competent to assess the turnover, and a revisional or appellate body cannot direct the revisional authority to assume the assessment function where the statute vests that power elsewhere.

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