Revisional limitation under sales tax law requires completion within five years, not just initiation of proceedings.

The five-year limitation in Section 40 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 is construed as a limit for completing revisional proceedings, not merely for initiating them. The text contrasts Sections 28(4), 28(5) and 31, which allow proceedings to be initiated within a prescribed period, with Section 40, which states that no order shall be revised after five years from the date of the order. That difference in wording shows legislative intent that revision must conclude within five years. Where revisional proceedings remained pending beyond that period, the authority lacked jurisdiction to pass the revisional order and the notices were liable to be quashed.

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Issues: Whether the five-year period under Section 40 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 is a limit only for initiation of revision proceedings or for their conclusion.

Analysis: Section 28(4) and Section 28(5) of the Act, dealing with assessment, and Section 31, dealing with reassessment, use language showing that proceedings may be initiated within the prescribed period. Section 40 uses materially different words and states that no order shall be revised after the expiry of five years from the date of the order. The distinction in wording indicates that the legislature intended the revision itself to be completed within the limitation period. Since the revisional proceedings in the present matter had not concluded within five years, the authority had no jurisdiction to pass the revisional order.

Conclusion: The five-year period under Section 40 is a limit for conclusion of the revisional proceedings, not merely for their initiation, and the impugned notices were liable to be quashed.

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