Limitation for sales tax assessment under amended law applied to pending proceedings; late assessment order was time-barred.

The substituted limitation provision in section 11 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, which required completion of assessment within three years, was applied to pending assessment proceedings where the last date for filing the final return for the relevant year fell after the amendment. The Court treated the amended time limit as conferring a substantive right on the assessee and held that an assessment completed after expiry of that period lacked jurisdiction. The assessment order was therefore time-barred, and the appeal failed on that basis.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order passed under section 11 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 was barred by limitation.

Analysis: The appeal turned on the effect of the amendment to section 11 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, which prescribed a three-year time limit for completion of assessment. The relevant assessment year was 1997-98, and the last date for filing the final return fell after the amendment came into force. The Court followed the earlier ruling that the substituted provision conferred a substantive right on the assessee to have the assessment completed within the prescribed period and applied to pending assessment proceedings for that year. Since the assessment order was passed after expiry of the three-year period, it was without jurisdiction and time-barred.

Conclusion: The assessment order was barred by limitation and the appeal was without merit.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a substituted assessment provision prescribes a time limit for completion of assessment and the last date for return filing falls after the amendment, the limitation applies to the pending assessment proceedings and an order passed after expiry of that period is barred by limitation.

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