Limitation on reassessment bars jurisdiction where notice is issued after the statutory period and proceedings are quashed.

A reassessment notice issued after expiry of the limitation period under the earlier Commercial Tax Act was held unsustainable. The Chhattisgarh Value Added Tax Act, 2005 also prescribed a three-year limit for reassessment, and the notice was beyond that period as well. The court treated the statutory time bar as a jurisdictional limitation that could be raised at the writ stage. As the delay was not legally curable, the reassessment notice, reassessment order and revisional order were quashed.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment notice and consequential reassessment proceedings were barred by limitation and therefore unsustainable.

Analysis: The assessment year in dispute fell under the earlier Commercial Tax Act, but the reassessment notice was issued after expiry of the limitation period prescribed under that Act. The later Chhattisgarh Value Added Tax Act, 2005 also contained a specific three-year limitation for reassessment, and the notice was beyond that period as well. The statutory bar on reassessment was treated as a jurisdictional limitation, capable of being raised even at the writ stage. In these circumstances, the delay was not legally curable and the reassessment proceedings could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The reassessment notice, the reassessment order, and the revisional order were barred by limitation and were quashed.

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