Rectification jurisdiction is narrow: concluded orders cannot be reopened unless a genuine mistake is apparent from the record.

Rectification jurisdiction under section 21A(2) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 is confined to genuine mistakes apparent from the record and cannot be used to reopen a concluded order. Relying on an earlier Division Bench ruling construing section 21A alongside the analogous rectification power in section 35C(2) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, the Court treated the point as settled and held that the impugned rectification order could not be sustained. The rectification order was set aside and the original order restored.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal could validly exercise rectification jurisdiction under section 21A(2) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 to recall its earlier order on the ground of a mistake apparent from the record.

Analysis: The Court found that the issue was no longer res integra and was already covered by a Division Bench decision of the same Court, which had considered section 21A of the 1948 Act alongside the analogous rectification provision in section 35C(2) of the Central Excise Act, 1944. Applying that precedent, the Court held that the impugned rectification order could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The rectification order was held unsustainable and was set aside, with the original order restored.

Ratio Decidendi: Rectification jurisdiction cannot be used to reopen a concluded order unless the error is a genuine mistake apparent from the record and the matter falls within the narrow limits of the statutory power of rectification.

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