Reassessment under Assam VAT law requires a prior assessment; without it, the reassessment power is without jurisdiction.

Section 40 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 can be invoked only after a valid prior assessment under Sections 34, 35, 36 or 37. Where no such assessment has been completed, the jurisdictional foundation for reassessment is absent and the reassessment power cannot be exercised. On that footing, the reassessment order, demand notice and recovery notices were held unsustainable and quashed.

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Issues: Whether reassessment under Section 40 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 could be initiated in the absence of a prior assessment under Sections 34, 35, 36 or 37 of that Act.

Analysis: The statutory scheme requires a prior assessment as a jurisdictional foundation before the power of reassessment can be exercised. The return filings for the relevant year were not within the prescribed time, and the Court proceeded on the basis that no assessment under Sections 34, 35, 36 or 37 had been completed. In that situation, the precondition for invoking Section 40 was absent. The Court also noted that the issue stood covered by earlier binding reasoning that the existence of assessment is a condition precedent to reassessment.

Conclusion: Reassessment under Section 40 was not sustainable and was without jurisdiction.

Final Conclusion: The reassessment order, demand notice, and recovery notices were quashed, and the writ petition succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Reassessment under Section 40 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 can be exercised only if there has been a valid prior assessment under the specified assessment provisions; in the absence of such prior assessment, the reassessment is without jurisdiction.

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