Reasonable time limits for suo motu revisional power: unexplained delay can invalidate a notice issued after years.

Where a statute confers suo motu revisional power without prescribing a limitation period, the power is not governed by the assessment period and must instead be exercised within a reasonable time. The reasonableness of delay depends on the facts, but an unexplained and excessive lapse makes the exercise arbitrary and unsustainable. On the facts stated, a revisional notice issued more than five years after the assessment order, without any special justification, was treated as beyond a reasonable time and invalid, and the challenge succeeded in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether, in the absence of an express limitation period in section 21(1) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, revisional power could be exercised only within the assessment period or otherwise only within a reasonable time, and whether a notice issued after more than five years from the assessment order was valid.

Analysis: The assessment period prescribed under section 11 does not control the exercise of suo motu revisional jurisdiction under section 21(1), because the two provisions operate in different fields. However, where the statute confers revisional power without prescribing a period of limitation, the power cannot be exercised arbitrarily or after an unduly long delay. The governing principle is that such power must be exercised within a reasonable time, and what is reasonable depends on the facts of each case. In the present matter, the notice sought to revise an assessment finalised on 20 March 2001 was issued only on 4 September 2006, with no explanation or special circumstance shown to justify the delay.

Conclusion: The notice was issued beyond a reasonable time and was invalid. The challenge succeeded in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The revisional notice was quashed because the statutory power, though not subject to a fixed limitation, had to be exercised within a reasonable period and the delay in this case was unjustified.

Ratio Decidendi: A suo motu revisional power conferred without an express limitation must be exercised within a reasonable time, and an unexplained excessive delay renders the action arbitrary and unsustainable.

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