1963 (2) TMI 38

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....ered dealer, who carries on the business of selling parts of motor vehicles, typewriters, sewing machines etc. under the name and style of "Modern Machinery Agency, Katni". He had furnished in the usual manner his returns for the period 3rd November, 1956, to 23rd October, 1957. Since the Sales Tax Officer did not accept those returns as correct and complete, he issued on 10th March, 1959, a notice in Form XII to the petitioner. In due course, on 23rd May, 1959, the petitioner's sales were assessed to tax under section 11(4)(a) of the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947 (hereinafter called the repealed Act). On 23rd October, 1962, a notice under section 19(1) of the new Act was issued to the petitioner for assessing to tax his s....

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....er this Act and the Commissioner, in consequence of any information which has come into his possession, is satisfied that any sale or purchase of goods charge- able to tax under this Act, during any year has been under-assessed or has escaped assessment or assessed at a lower rate or any deduction has been wrongly made therefrom, the Commissioner may, at any time within five calendar years from the expiry of such year, after giving the dealer a reasonable opportunity of being heard and after making such enquiry as he considers necessary, proceed, in such manner as may be prescribed, to reassess the tax payable on any such sale or purchase and the Commissioner may direct that the dealer shall pay, by way of penalty in addition to the amount ....

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....eriod of limita- tion for taxing the sales made during the relevant period, which escaped assessment, is the one prescribed by section 11-A of the repeal- ed Act or the one enacted in section 19(1) of the new Act. In our opinion, the proviso to section 19(1) ibid furnishes the answer. It reads: "Provided that in the case of an assessment made under any Act repealed by section 52, the period for reassessment on the ground of under-assessment, escapement or wrong deduction shall be as provided in such Act notwithstanding the repeal thereof." Since the original assessment in this case was expressly made under the repealed Act, the period for reassessment was, notwith- standing the repeal, the one prescribed by the repealed Act, namely, thre....

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....of the powers conferred by or under this Act, as if this Act were in force on the date on which such thing was done or action was taken; and all arrears of tax and other amounts due at the commencement of this Act may be recovered as if they had accrued under this Act." 6.. The proviso to section 52(1) of the new Act may be convenient- ly separated into two parts as follows: (i) The repeal shall not affect the previous operation of the Act repealed or any right, title, obligation or liability already acquired, accrued or incurred thereunder, and subject thereto (ii) anything done or any action taken in exercise of the powers conferred by or under the repealed Acts shall, in so far as not incon- sistent with the provisions of the ne....

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....e proviso to section 19(1) of the new Act refers only to assessments made before its commencement and it will not apply to assessments made after that Act came into force even in proceedings initiated earlier. In our opinion, the latter assessments are equally within the ambit of section 19(1) by virtue of part (i) of the proviso to section 52(1) of the new Act. The reason is that an enact- ment saving rights, obligations and liabilities has reference to such rights, obligations and liabilities as have not been fully worked out. The principle of interpretation is thus stated in Halsbury's Laws of England, Second Edition (Volume 31 at page 486):   "It can only preserve things which were in esse at the time of its enactment, and there....