Pending assessment notification governs completion on returns; assessment order and demand notice set aside, matter remitted for fresh decision.

A Government notification governing pending assessments under the Karnataka Sales Tax Act required incomplete assessments for the specified period to be treated as completed on the basis of the returns furnished, without insisting on the dealer's or production of books of account. As the respondent admitted a mistake in the assessment order and demand notice, and the assessment showed an apparent lapse in its passing and service, the impugned order and consequential demand could not be sustained. They were set aside, and the matter was remitted for fresh decision in accordance with the statutory framework and the notification.

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Issues: Whether the impugned assessment order and consequential demand notice were liable to be set aside and the matter remitted for fresh consideration in the light of the Government notification governing pending assessments.

Analysis: The petitioner had filed its return for the relevant assessment year and relied on the Government notification issued under section 12C(8) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, which provided that incomplete assessments for the specified period were to be deemed completed on the basis of the returns furnished, without insisting on the dealer's presence or production of books of account. The respondent, through the learned Government Pleader, ed that a mistake had crept into the assessment order and demand notice. In view of that admission and the apparent lapse in passing and serving the assessment order, the Court found that the impugned action could not be sustained, and that the matter required reconsideration in accordance with the statutory framework and the notification.

Conclusion: The impugned assessment order and demand notice were set aside, and the matter was remitted to the respondent for fresh decision in accordance with law and the notification.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessment is shown to suffer from an apparent lapse and a governing notification mandates consideration of returns for pending assessments, the assessment and consequential demand may be quashed and the matter remitted for fresh determination under the applicable statutory regime.

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