Substituted limitation regime under trade tax law governed pending assessments and prevented the limitation bar claimed by the assessee.

The note examines limitation for trade tax assessments under section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948, focusing on successive amendments and the substitution made by U.P. Act No. 11 of 1997. It explains that the substituted provision introduced a new limitation regime permitting assessment or reassessment up to 31.03.1998. On that basis, pending assessments were to be tested under the amended provision rather than an earlier, shorter period. As the validity of the amending Act itself was not challenged, the assessments were treated as governed by the substituted limitation scheme and not as time-barred.

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Issues: Whether the assessment orders passed on 30.03.1998 were barred by limitation under section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948, or whether the amended provision inserted by U.P. Act No. 11 of 1997 applied to validate the assessments.

Analysis: The limitation scheme under section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 was examined across successive amendments. The provision originally prescribed a four-year period, later modified by amendments which also fixed specific outer dates for certain assessment years. The Court held that the amendment by U.P. Act No. 11 of 1997 substituted section 21(2) with a different limitation regime, under which assessment or reassessment could be made up to 31.03.1998. It was held that the case was not one of revival of an already extinguished limitation right, but of a new statutory prescription governing the pending assessments. Since the validity of the amending Act was not challenged, the assessments had to be tested on the basis of the substituted provision.

Conclusion: The assessments were held to be within time, and the plea of limitation was rejected.

Final Conclusion: The revisions failed because the substituted limitation provision governed the assessments and removed the bar that was otherwise claimed by the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a limitation provision is validly substituted by a later amendment and the new provision extends the time for making assessment or reassessment, pending assessments are governed by the substituted regime and are not barred merely because an earlier limitation period had expired.

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