Revisional power and first appeal on merits: assessment cannot be restored without remand for fresh appellate adjudication.

Where the first appellate authority had not decided the assessee's appeal on merits, the revisional authority was not justified in merely restoring the assessment order. The proper course, if the annulment of the assessment was found unsustainable, was to remand the matter to the Joint Commissioner for fresh appellate consideration and disposal in accordance with law. The revisional order was therefore unsustainable to the extent it reinstated the assessment without ensuring adjudication of the appeal on merits, and the matter was required to be reconsidered by the first appellate authority.

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Issues: Whether the revisional authority was justified in restoring the assessment order when the first appellate authority had not decided the assessee's appeal on merits, and whether the matter ought to have been remanded to the appellate authority for fresh consideration.

Analysis: The appellate authority had annulled the assessment and remanded the matter, but the appeal itself had not been disposed of on merits. In that situation, if the revisional authority found the annulment order to be unsustainable, the proper course was to send the matter back to the Joint Commissioner for a fresh decision on the appeal. Restoring the assessment without ensuring adjudication of the appeal on merits was not the correct procedure.

Conclusion: The revisional order could not be sustained to the extent it restored the assessment without remanding the matter to the appellate authority. The matter was required to be reconsidered by the Joint Commissioner on merits and in accordance with law.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was disposed of by setting aside the impugned procedural course and remitting the matter to the first appellate authority for fresh adjudication.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a first appeal has not been decided on merits, a revisional authority should not restore the assessment without ensuring that the appeal is heard and disposed of in accordance with law; the proper course is remand for fresh appellate consideration.

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