Revisional power cannot target a superseded assessment order after reassessment has replaced it.

Revisional power under section 35 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 extends only to an existing order prejudicial to revenue. Where reassessment proceedings under section 19(1) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 read with section 9(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 culminate in a fresh substituted assessment, the original order stands superseded and is no longer alive for revision. A revisional authority cannot validly exercise suo motu power against an order that has ceased to exist. The revisional notice and consequential cancellation of the original assessment order were therefore invalid.

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Issues: Whether the revisional authority could validly exercise suo motu revisional power to cancel an assessment order that had ceased to exist after reassessment proceedings were initiated and culminated in a substituted order.

Analysis: The statutory power of revision under section 35 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 authorises the Deputy Commissioner to call for and examine an order prejudicial to revenue, but only in relation to an existing order. In the present case, the original assessment order had been reopened in reassessment proceedings under section 19(1) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 read with section 9(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, and a fresh order had already been passed substituting the original one. Once the original order was superseded, it was no longer alive for revision. A revisional authority cannot revise an order that is no longer in existence.

Conclusion: The revisional notice and the consequential cancellation of the original assessment order were invalid; the assessee succeeded on the legal issue.

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