Review petition maintainability fails where the proper challenge was to the earlier order already acted upon.

A review petition was held not maintainable where the proper challenge was to the earlier judgment that had directed the clarification authority to decide the matter and had kept assessment proceedings in abeyance. The Court noted that, if assessment orders had already been served, the party should have sought review of that earlier order rather than file later review applications after consequential proceedings had already followed. In these circumstances, the later review petitions could not be entertained and were dismissed, leaving the earlier directions undisturbed.

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Issues: Whether the review petitions were maintainable in view of the alleged non-disclosure of facts and the subsequent proceedings already taken pursuant to the earlier judgments.

Analysis: The challenge rested on the assertion that assessment orders had already been passed and that, by virtue of Section 94(4) of the Kerala Value Added Tax Act, the authority for clarification could not proceed on the application once such assessment orders existed. The Court held that, if the assessment orders had been served earlier, the proper course was to seek review of the earlier judgment that had first directed the authority for clarification to decide the matter and kept the assessment proceedings in abeyance. Instead, consequential proceedings had already followed the earlier judgment, and the later review applications were filed after those directions had been acted upon. In these circumstances, the later review petitions could not be entertained.

Conclusion: The review petitions were not maintainable and were dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The Court declined to reopen the earlier directions and left the assessee's relief intact by refusing review at the belated stage.

Ratio Decidendi: A review petition cannot succeed when the proper challenge lay against the earlier order itself and the impugned direction has already been acted upon through consequential proceedings.

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