Assessment invalidated for ignoring subsisting stay order, with matter remanded for fresh assessment after hearing the taxpayer.

An assessment order was found vulnerable because it was passed without due regard to a subsisting stay in a connected writ petition concerning the same alleged suppressed turnover. The revised notice under the Kerala Value Added Tax Act had already raised that defect, and the court treated the failure to account for the judicial restraint as a serious procedural defect affecting the assessment. The assessment was quashed, and the matter was remitted for fresh assessment after hearing the taxpayer and considering the effect of the orders passed in the connected writ petition.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order was liable to be quashed for having been passed without due regard to the subsisting stay order and whether the matter required remand for fresh assessment.

Analysis: The revised notice under Section 25(1) of the Kerala Value Added Tax Act had raised the defect relating to the alleged suppressed turnover, and proceedings concerning that very aspect had already been stayed by the Court in the connected writ petition. The assessment order was therefore made without taking account of the judicial restraint operating on that issue. Such disregard of the pending stay vitiated the assessment and justified interference.

Conclusion: The assessment order was quashed and the matter was remitted for fresh assessment after hearing the petitioner and considering the effect of the orders passed in the connected writ petition.

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