Reassessment on audit objection remains subject to statutory limitation; a later audit objection cannot revive a time-barred reopening.

Section 25A of the Kerala Value Added Tax Act provides an additional basis for reopening assessment on a lawful audit objection, but it does not displace the reassessment procedure and limitation regime in Section 25(1). The statutory time limit for reassessment continues to govern the exercise of that power, so a later audit objection from the Comptroller and Auditor General cannot revive a reassessment that has already become time-barred. The construction preserves the statutory scheme, fairness in taxation, due process, and the rule of law, and reassessment cannot be undertaken after expiry of the applicable limitation period.

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Issues: Whether reassessment under Section 25A of the Kerala Value Added Tax Act can be completed after the limitation period prescribed for reassessment under Section 25(1) has expired, merely because the reassessment is based on a later audit objection from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Analysis: Section 25A creates an additional ground for reopening assessment on the basis of a lawful audit objection, but it does not constitute a complete code for reassessment procedure. The procedural steps for reassessment continue to be governed by Section 25(1), and the statutory safeguard of limitation remains integral to the exercise of that power. The expression relating to the assessing authority's satisfaction on the lawfulness of the objection must therefore be read consistently with the statutory scheme and with the constitutional requirement that tax be levied and collected only by authority of law. A construction permitting reassessment without any temporal limit would be inconsistent with fairness in taxation, due process, and the rule of law.

Conclusion: Reassessment under Section 25A cannot be undertaken after expiry of the limitation period under Section 25(1), and a belated audit objection cannot revive a time-barred reassessment.

Final Conclusion: The legal position declared is that limitation continues to control reassessment even where the trigger is a Comptroller and Auditor General audit objection, and the impugned proceedings were set aside or confined accordingly in the connected matters.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment power invoked on the basis of an audit objection remains subject to the statutory limitation period governing reassessment, and a later audit objection cannot override a time bar.

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