Limitation on reassessment notices: High Court held barred notices without jurisdiction and upheld writ interference under Article 226.

Reassessment notices under the Bihar Value Added Tax Act, 2005 were issued after the statutory period for reassessment had expired, so they were barred by limitation and lacked jurisdiction. The dealer's returns had already led to self-assessment under Section 26, and earlier reassessment steps had either been closed or concluded after appellate remand. Because the 2018 notices were not traceable to any subsisting reassessment within the prescribed time, the High Court held that a writ petition under Article 226 was maintainable despite the notices being at a show-cause stage, and interference was justified to prevent action without jurisdiction.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment show-cause notices issued under the Bihar Value Added Tax Act, 2005 were barred by limitation and therefore without jurisdiction, so as to warrant interference under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: The returns filed by the dealer resulted in self-assessment under Section 26 of the Bihar Value Added Tax Act, 2005. The Department had earlier initiated reassessment proceedings, but the subsequent steps either ended in closure or culminated in acceptance of the returns after appellate remand. In that background, the later notices issued in 2018 were not linked to any subsisting reassessment within the statutory time frame. Section 31 permitted reassessment only within the prescribed period from the expiry of the relevant year after the original assessment or reassessment, and that period had already elapsed. Since the notices were issued beyond limitation, the objection that the writ petition challenged only a show-cause notice did not prevent exercise of writ jurisdiction, because the action was wholly without jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The reassessment notices were barred by limitation and were without jurisdiction; interference under Article 226 was justified.

Final Conclusion: The writ petitions succeeded, and the Department was restrained from proceeding on the basis of the impugned notices.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment notice issued after expiry of the statutory limitation period is without jurisdiction, and writ jurisdiction may be invoked to quash such notice notwithstanding the availability of alternate remedies.

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