Fresh assessment after remand can preserve settlement scheme benefits; later order date alone cannot defeat eligibility.

A fresh assessment order passed after appellate remand substitutes the original assessment order and is treated as the operative order for legal purposes. On that basis, the court recognised that arrears relating to assessment years before 1.4.2002 could still fall within the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Arrears) Act, 2008, even though the consequential demand arose only after remand. The later date of the fresh assessment could not, by itself, deny settlement benefits otherwise available to similarly placed assessees. The assessee was therefore held entitled to the settlement scheme, and the writ challenge to the clarification succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to settlement of arrears under the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Arrears) Act, 2008 when the original assessment had been set aside on appeal and fresh assessment orders were passed after remand.

Analysis: The arrears sought to be settled related to assessment years predating 1.4.2002, though the consequential demand was raised after remand and fresh disposal. The governing principle applied was that when an assessment order is set aside in appeal and the matter is remanded, the fresh order passed on remand substitutes the original order and is to be treated as a fresh order for legal purposes. Merely because the fresh order was made later could not deprive the assessee of the benefit of a settlement scheme otherwise available to similarly placed persons. The Court treated the post-remand assessments as continuing from the original assessment years and not as an independent basis to deny settlement benefits.

Conclusion: The petitioner was held entitled to the benefit of the settlement scheme and the challenge to the impugned clarification succeeded.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was allowed and the petitioner's eligibility for settlement of the arrears was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A fresh assessment order passed after an appellate remand substitutes the original assessment order, and the legal effect of the original assessment cannot be used to deny statutory settlement benefits solely because the consequential order was made later.

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