Fresh assessment limitation proviso construed broadly to govern post-remand assessments under the sales tax scheme.

A proviso prescribing a limitation period for fresh assessment under the Bombay Sales Tax Act was construed by reading section 33 as a whole. Its placement below section 33(4A) was held to be a drafting feature only and not a restriction confining it to assessments under that sub-section or to cases where all returns were filed in time. Because the proviso did not itself refer to timely or belated returns, it was applied to any fresh assessment made to give effect to an earlier finding, direction, or order. The limitation therefore governed post-remand fresh assessments generally, including the thirty-six-month period.

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Issues: Whether the first proviso to section 33(4A) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 applies only to assessments under section 33(4A) where all returns are filed within time, or whether it governs fresh assessments made to give effect to findings or directions in any order under the Act.

Analysis: The placement of the proviso below section 33(4A) was held not to confine its operation to that sub-section alone. The entire scheme of section 33 had to be read as a whole, and the position of a proviso was treated as only a drafting feature, not a decisive indicator of scope. The proviso itself did not refer to timely or belated filing of returns. Support was drawn from the principle that a limitation provision inserted as a proviso may in substance operate independently, and from prior authority holding that assessments based on returns, whether timely or belated, may still fall within the relevant assessment sub-sections. The proviso was therefore construed as applying to any fresh assessment required to give effect to an earlier finding, direction, or order.

Conclusion: The proviso applies to fresh assessments generally and is not restricted to cases where all returns were filed within time. The question was answered in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The references were resolved by holding that post-remand fresh assessment must comply with the thirty-six-month limitation under the proviso, and the assessee succeeded on the legal issue.

Ratio Decidendi: A proviso prescribing a limitation period for fresh assessment, though placed within a particular sub-section, may operate independently according to the language and scheme of the section and is not confined to that sub-section unless the statute clearly so limits it.

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