Retrospective tax benefit crystallisation means limitation for reopening runs from final adjudication, not from earlier pendency.

Where entitlement to an eligibility certificate and tax holiday is finally determined only by a later retrospective order, limitation for consequential reopening of assessment runs from that crystallising adjudication and not from the earlier pendency of the claim. The assessee's application for reopening, made promptly after the competent authority allowed the benefit in 2002 with effect from 5 January 1993, was therefore not time-barred. The Tribunal's approach of treating the passage of six years as decisive was rejected because it ignored the binding effect of the later order that created the enforceable right to seek reopening for the relevant three-year period.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's application for reopening of assessment was barred by limitation when the entitlement to eligibility certificate and tax holiday was finally determined only in the later adjudication.

Analysis: The assessee's claim for benefit under rule 3(66a) remained under adjudication for years and was finally allowed by the competent authority in 2002, with effect from 5 January 1993. The subsequent application for reopening of assessment was made promptly after that determination. Since the right to claim the benefit crystallised only on the final adjudication, the period spent in pending proceedings could not be treated as rendering the reopening request time-barred. The earlier view of the Tribunal, which treated the passage of six years as decisive, ignored the effect of the later binding order granting the benefit retrospectively.

Conclusion: The plea of limitation was rejected, and the assessee was held entitled to reopening of assessment for the relevant three-year period.

Ratio Decidendi: Where entitlement to a tax benefit is finally determined retrospectively after prolonged adjudication, limitation for consequential reopening cannot be computed so as to defeat the crystallised right arising from that final order.

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