Pending proceedings requirement limits reopening power under Gujarat VAT law; concluded time-barred assessments cannot be disturbed.

Section 34(8A) of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act is confined to use during pending proceedings under the Act and cannot be invoked to reopen a concluded assessment that has already become time-barred. Read with the assessment and reassessment scheme in sections 32, 33, 34 and 35, the provision does not authorise disturbance of assessments that have attained finality, especially where the reassessment power itself is barred by limitation. A mere internal scrutiny or file examination is insufficient to satisfy the requirement that the power be exercised "during the course of any proceedings".

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Issues: Whether section 34(8A) of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act could be invoked to reopen a concluded and time-barred assessment, and whether the existence of pending proceedings was a sine qua non for exercising power under that provision.

Analysis: The original assessment had already been completed and had become barred by limitation under section 34(9). The Court read section 34(8A) in the context of the scheme of assessment and reassessment under sections 32, 33, 34 and 35. It held that the new provision, introduced with effect from 01.04.2013, could not be used to disturb assessments that had long attained finality, particularly where even the power under section 35 had become time-barred. The Court further held that clause (a) of section 34(8A) operates only "during the course of any proceedings under this Act", which necessarily requires pending proceedings; a mere internal scrutiny or file examination is not enough.

Conclusion: The invocation of section 34(8A) was invalid, and the impugned order was liable to be quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: A power to reopen or assess under section 34(8A) can be exercised only during pending proceedings under the Act and cannot be used to unsettle a concluded assessment that has already become time-barred.

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