Reassessment based only on a later judgment is invalid when no fresh material justifies reopening a concluded assessment.

Reassessment under Section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 cannot be sustained when a concluded assessment is reopened solely because a later judgment has clarified the law, without any fresh material or independent discovery of escaped turnover. Where the original assessment was completed on the basis of the records and materials then available, reopening on the strength of a subsequent judicial decision amounts to a mere change of opinion. The reassessment proceedings were therefore quashed in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether reassessment under Section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 could be sustained when it was initiated solely on the basis of a subsequent judgment and without any fresh material.

Analysis: The reassessment was found to have been initiated after the original assessment had been completed on the basis of the records and materials then available. The reason for reopening was a later judicial decision, not any new fact or escaped turnover discovered from independent material. Reopening a concluded assessment merely because the legal position was later clarified amounts to reopening on a change of opinion. A completed assessment cannot be disturbed on the basis of a subsequent judgment in the absence of fresh material justifying reassessment.

Conclusion: The reassessment proceedings were not sustainable and were quashed, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A concluded assessment cannot be reopened under reassessment powers merely on the strength of a subsequent judgment, as that amounts to a change of opinion rather than a valid basis for reassessment.

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