Limitation for VAT assessment orders depends on the actual date of operative signing, not an asserted earlier office date.

An assessment order under Section 23(2) of the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act, 2002 was found invalid where the operative order was not actually made within the four-year limitation period. The return related to financial year 2015-16, so limitation expired on 31 March 2020, but the record showed the order was digitally signed only on 23 June 2020. The court rejected reliance on an asserted earlier office date because the SAP records and file properties indicated the operative order was created and signed after expiry. The assessment and demand were quashed for breach of the statutory time limit.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order under Section 23(2) of the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act, 2002 was barred by limitation on the ground that it was made after expiry of four years from the end of the year containing the period to which the return related.

Analysis: The return related to financial year 2015-16, so the limitation under the second proviso to Section 23(2) expired on 31 March 2020. The record showed that the impugned order served on the petitioner was digitally signed only on 23 June 2020. The explanation that an order dated 19 March 2020 existed in the office record was not accepted, because the SAP records and the properties of the soft copy indicated that the operative order was created and digitally signed in June 2020, and no convincing material was produced to establish a valid assessment order within time.

Conclusion: The assessment order was held to be time-barred and invalid, and the challenge succeeded.

Final Conclusion: The assessment and demand were quashed for breach of the statutory time limit, and the petition was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment order under a statutory limitation provision is valid only if the operative order is actually made within the prescribed period; an asserted earlier date will not suffice where the contemporaneous record shows the order was created and digitally signed after limitation expired.

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