Service by affixture is valid only after prescribed modes are shown impracticable; otherwise limitation continues to run.

Service of an assessment order by affixture under Rule 63(d) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules is valid only after the authority finds and records that the earlier prescribed modes of service under Rule 63(a) to (c) are not feasible or practicable. The assessment authority must make that prerequisite clear in a speaking order; without evidence that the other modes were attempted or found impracticable, affixture is not proper service. On the facts noted, the order was not validly communicated within the statutory period, so limitation continued to run and the assessment was barred.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessment was barred by limitation on account of non-service of the assessment order in the manner prescribed under Rule 63 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules, 1963, and whether service by affixture could validly be treated as sufficient without recording that the other modes of service were not practicable.

Analysis: Service by affixture under Rule 63(d) is permissible only when the methods contemplated under Rule 63(a), (b) and (c) are not feasible or practicable. The assessment authority was required to examine that prerequisite and record a speaking order. On the materials available, there was nothing to show that the prescribed earlier modes of service had been attempted or that they were not practicable. The assessment order was therefore not properly communicated within the statutory period, and the earlier precedents on Rule 63 supported the conclusion that mere affixture, without satisfaction of the statutory conditions, does not amount to proper service.

Conclusion: The assessment was barred by limitation and the assessee succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute prescribes sequential modes of service, affixture can be resorted to only after the authority records that the other prescribed modes are not practicable; absent such compliance, service is invalid and limitation continues to run.

---