Extension of assessment time cannot revive a time-barred assessment once limitation has expired.

The statutory power to extend time for completing assessment had to be exercised while the limitation period was still running; once the prescribed three-year period expired, the authority to complete the assessment was extinguished and the assessee obtained the benefit of limitation. The Court held that, in the absence of express words authorising post-expiry extension, a belated deferment order could not revive a time-barred assessment. Applying analogous sales tax principles, it ruled that the Commissioner could not validly extend the assessment period after it had already become barred.

---

---

Issues: Whether the power of the Commissioner to extend the period for completing assessment could be exercised after the assessment had already become time-barred.

Analysis: The statutory scheme prescribed a period of three years for completing assessment and conferred a limited power to extend that period for recorded reasons. The Court held that the enactment did not expressly authorise extension after the limitation period had expired. Once the prescribed period elapsed, the authority to complete the assessment stood extinguished and the assessee acquired the benefit of limitation. In the absence of any express contrary provision, the power to extend time had to be exercised while the period of limitation was still running, and not after the assessment had already become barred. The Court followed the view taken in analogous sales tax jurisprudence that a belated deferment or extension order cannot revive a dead assessment.

Conclusion: The power to extend the period for passing the assessment order could not validly be exercised after the assessment had become time-barred, and the issue was answered in favour of the assessee.

---