Limitation for sales tax assessment cannot be revived where no return or valid notice had initiated pending proceedings.

Under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, as amended, an assessment for 2003-04 was treated as time-barred because it was neither initiated nor completed within the original limitation period under Section 17(6). The later amendments extending time for pending assessments did not apply, since on the relevant dates no return had been filed and no valid notice commencing assessment proceedings had been issued. The governing principle applied is that proceedings are not pending merely because a dealer was obliged to file a return; without a return or statutory initiating notice, there is no pending assessment capable of being saved by the extended provisos.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessment for the year 2003-04 was made within the period prescribed under Section 17(6) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 as amended by the Kerala Finance Acts of 2009 and 2010.

Analysis: The assessment for 2003-04 was not initiated or completed within the original limitation period under Section 17(6). The question was whether the later amendments extending time for pending assessments applied. The decisive factor was that, on the relevant dates, no return had been filed and no notice initiating assessment proceedings had been issued. The principle relied on from the governing law is that proceedings do not become pending merely because the dealer was under an obligation to file a return; in the absence of a return or a valid initiating notice, there is no pending assessment proceeding capable of being saved by the extended provisos.

Conclusion: The assessment was time-barred, the extended provisos were inapplicable, and the challenge by the revenue failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where no assessment proceedings have been initiated by a return or valid statutory notice, a later extension of limitation for pending assessments cannot revive a time-barred assessment.

---