Reassessment barred by limitation under Rule 6(7); notice issued after the four-year period could not sustain jurisdiction.

Rule 6(7) of the Central Sales Tax (Kerala) Rules, 1957 prescribes a four-year period for reopening and completing reassessment from the end of the relevant year. On the facts noted, the reassessment notice was issued after that period had expired for the 2006-07 assessment year, so the Court treated the attempted reassessment as barred by limitation and without jurisdiction. The notice and the reassessment order passed on its basis were quashed, and the writ petition was allowed.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment notice and the consequential reassessment order were barred by limitation under rule 6(7) of the Central Sales Tax (Kerala) Rules, 1957.

Analysis: Rule 6(7) prescribes a four-year period for reopening and completing reassessment from the expiry of the year to which the tax relates. The assessment year concerned was 2006-07, so the limitation period expired in 2011. The notice for reassessment was issued only on 12 March 2014, well beyond the prescribed period. In view of the statutory bar and the binding clarification relied on by the Court, the notice could not validly found reassessment jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The reassessment notice was time-barred and the reassessment order passed pursuant to it was jurisdiction; both were quashed, and the writ petition was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute prescribes a fixed period for initiating reassessment, action taken beyond that period is void for want of jurisdiction.

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