Express statutory authorisation is required for reassessment; audit assignment alone does not confer jurisdiction under the VAT regime.

Reassessment under the Karnataka Value Added Tax regime requires express empowerment of the prescribed authority under the Act and Rules. The text explains that section 39(1), read with the definition of prescribed authority in section 2(24) and the relevant rules, limits reassessment jurisdiction to an officer authorised by the Government or the Commissioner. Audit or assignment notes, without clear statutory authorisation, do not confer reassessment power. The distinction between audit functions and reassessment jurisdiction is therefore material, and audit assignment cannot substitute for the express authority required to sustain a reassessment order.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment order could be sustained when the officer passing it was not shown to have been expressly authorised by the Government or the Commissioner under the Karnataka Value Added Tax Act, 2003 and the Karnataka Value Added Tax Rules, 2005, and whether audit assignment could be treated as equivalent to reassessment authority.

Analysis: Under section 39(1) of the Karnataka Value Added Tax Act, 2003, reassessment can be made only by the prescribed authority. The definition of prescribed authority in section 2(24) requires authorisation by the Government or the Commissioner. Section 58(1) and section 61(1) of the Act, read with rule 46 of the Karnataka Value Added Tax Rules, 2005, show that reassessment jurisdiction must flow from an express empowerment. The materials produced by the respondents showed only audit or assignment notes, not a clear authorisation to make reassessment. The distinction between audit and assessment is material, because audit is only one part of the assessment process and does not by itself confer reassessment power.

Conclusion: The reassessment order was without jurisdiction and could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the reassessment succeeded, as the officer lacked the requisite express authority to make the reassessment and audit assignment could not substitute for statutory reassessment power.

Ratio Decidendi: Reassessment under the Karnataka Value Added Tax regime can be made only by an officer expressly authorised by the competent statutory authority, and an audit assignment does not by itself confer reassessment jurisdiction.

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