Assessment jurisdiction under OVAT must follow the designated range authority; an order by another officer is void.

For dealers registered under the OVAT regime and assigned a TIN, assessment jurisdiction lay with the assessing authority of the range under Rule 34(12)(b), read with the Act's definition of "assessing authority". An assessment made instead by the Sales Tax Officer, Assessment Unit, who was not the designated range authority, did not comply with the statutory allocation of power and was therefore without jurisdiction. The assessment order was set aside.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessment order passed by the Sales Tax Officer, Assessment Unit, was without jurisdiction because dealers registered under the OVAT regime and assigned a TIN are assessable only by the assessing authority of the range under the Rules.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the combined effect of the definition of "assessing authority" in the Act and the specific scheme in Rule 34 of the Rules. Rule 34(12)(b) expressly provides that in the case of dealers granted registration and assigned a TIN, the assessing authority means the assessing authority of the range. The impugned assessment had been made by the Sales Tax Officer, Assessment Unit, who was not the assessing authority of the range. In the absence of conformity with the statutory allocation of authority, the assessment could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The assessment order was held to be without jurisdiction and was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing statute and the delegated rules expressly assign assessment jurisdiction to a specified authority, an assessment made by a different authority is void for want of jurisdiction.

---