Limitation in revisional assessment bars late fresh grounds, but a timely notice can still support redetermination on existing material.

A revisional assessment under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 is time-barred if the later revisional notice is issued after the six-year limitation period. The court treated the deemed assessment as having occurred on 30.06.2012, so the limitation for revisional action expired on 29.06.2018. Although the first revisional notice was issued in time, the impugned revised assessment rested on a second notice issued after limitation and was therefore unsustainable. The revised assessment order was set aside, but reassessment was permitted only on the basis of the timely first notice and the dealer's reply, without new material or fresh grounds.

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Issues: Whether the second revisional notice and the impugned revised assessment order under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 were barred by limitation, and whether the impugned order could be set aside while permitting reassessment only on the basis of the earlier revisional notice and the dealer's reply.

Analysis: The dispute concerned assessment year 2010-11, where the deemed assessment under Section 22(2) of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 was treated as having occurred on 30.06.2012. On that footing, the six-year limitation for revisional action under Section 27 of the Act expired on 29.06.2018. The first revisional notice was issued within time and culminated in a revised assessment order, but the impugned order was founded on a second revisional notice issued after expiry of the limitation period. The Court applied the principle that limitation bars the remedy but does not extinguish the right, and held that while reassessment proceedings cannot be commenced beyond limitation, the earlier timely notice could still sustain a fresh redetermination without enlargement of the original basis.

Conclusion: The impugned revised assessment order was set aside. The respondent was directed to redo the assessment only on the basis of the first revisional notice and the dealer's reply, without introducing any new material or new points.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a revisional assessment is initiated by a timely notice but a later notice introducing fresh grounds is issued after limitation has expired, the later action is barred, yet a fresh determination confined to the original timely notice may still be directed.

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