Reopening completed assessments requires relevant prima facie material and applied mind; sufficiency is for reassessment, not writ review.

Sanction under the proviso to Section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act for reopening completed assessments is a limited satisfaction-based jurisdiction, not an adjudicatory exercise. The authority must have relevant prima facie material indicating escaped turnover and must apply its mind to that material; the adequacy of the evidence is not open to judicial review at the sanction stage. Here, the sanctioning authority considered search material, seized hard-disk data, directors' statements, and the petitioners' reply before granting permission, so the reopening was not invalid for want of material. The sanction and consequential reassessment notice were upheld, and the writ challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the sanction granted under the proviso to Section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act for reopening completed assessments and issuing reassessment notice was valid in the absence of sufficient material.

Analysis: The power under the proviso to Section 21(2) is not an adjudicatory power but a limited satisfaction-based jurisdiction to authorise reassessment where there is relevant material giving rise to a prima facie belief that turnover has escaped assessment. The adequacy of the material is not for judicial scrutiny at this stage; only the existence of relevant and germane material and application of mind by the sanctioning authority can be examined. The record showed that the authority considered the search material, seized hard-disk data, statements of directors and the reply of the petitioners before granting permission, and the challenge based on absence of material or pending excise proceedings could not succeed in writ jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The sanction and the consequential reassessment notice were held valid. The challenge to reopening failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For reopening under Section 21(2), the authority need only be satisfied on relevant prima facie material that turnover has escaped assessment; sufficiency of that material and disputed factual defences are matters for reassessment proceedings, not writ interference.

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