Prospective operation of amended limitation provision barred reassessment after expiry of the unamended time limit.

Reassessment proceedings under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act were held time-barred where the escaped turnover notice and revised order were issued after the five-year limitation period under the unamended Section 16(1)(a) had expired. The court held that the amended limitation provision, which shifted the starting point from the end of the assessment year to the date of the final assessment order, operated prospectively and could not be used to validate proceedings already out of time. The impugned reassessment was therefore invalid and unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the revised assessment proceedings initiated on 23.8.2004 were barred by limitation under Section 16(1)(a) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, and whether the amended provision could be applied retrospectively to sustain the reassessment.

Analysis: The assessment year was 1997-98 and the original assessment order was dated 11.3.2000. Under the unamended Section 16(1)(a), proceedings for escaped turnover had to be initiated within five years from the expiry of the year to which the tax related, which meant the outer limit expired on 31.3.2003. The revised notice dated 5.4.2004 and the revised order dated 23.8.2004 were therefore beyond time. The amended provision, which computed limitation from the date of the final assessment order, was held to operate prospectively and could not be invoked to validate the impugned proceedings.

Conclusion: The revised assessment proceedings were time-barred and could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The order of the learned single Judge was set aside and the writ appeal was allowed on the ground of limitation.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment provision enlarging or altering the starting point of limitation operates prospectively unless the statute clearly provides otherwise, and proceedings beyond the limitation period prescribed by the unamended law are invalid.

---