TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (6) TMI 764
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.... (a) of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 for short (the Act) for the A.Y.1997-98, in pursuance of the JCCT (A)'s order dated 7.1.2020 in Appeal No.MGST-18/2001-2002 as confirmed and modified by the Commercial Taxes Tribunal, Bihar, Patna vide its order dated 26.4.2017 passed in Rev. Case No.114 of 2002, which is wholly arbitrary, illegal and without jurisdiction and sanction of law besides also being in violation of the provisions of sec 20(1) (a) and is thus unsustainable in law. B. To quash (Ann-4) being the consequential notice of demand for Rs. 40,81,963/- made in pursuance of Ann-3 received on 17.05.2019 by e-mail." 3. The impugned order dated 30th March 2019, Annexure-3, is passed in exercise of power under Section 20 of the Act, and the consequential demand in terms of Form XVII is dated 30th March 2019 (Annexure-4). 4. Before us, challenge, restricted in nature, is only on the ground of limitation, for the action of passing an order of the assessment under an order of remand, completed after a period of 13 years, is beyond the prescribed period of limitation stipulated under Section 24 of the Act. In support of his contention, Sri D. V. Pathy, learned counsel for the petitio....
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....t of tax payable by him under this part, or (b) has furnished incorrect statement of his turnover or incorrect particulars of his sales or purchases in the return furnished under sub-section (1) of Section 16 or otherwise. The prescribed authority shall, after giving such a dealer an opportunity of being heard in the manner prescribed, by an order in writing direct that he shall in addition to any tax which is or may be assessed under Section 17, pay by way of penalty, in a case falling in clause (a), sum not exceeding three times but not less than an amount equal to the amount of tax and in a case falling in clause (b), a sum not exceeding two times but not less than an amount equal to the amount of tax on the suppressed turnover or on concealed or incorrect particulars. (2) The penalty under sub-section (1) may be imposed before completion of assessment, and for determining the amount of penalty, the prescribed authority may quantify the amount of tax provisionally in the prescribed manner. (3) Any penalty imposed under sub-section (1) shall be without any prejudice to any action which is or may be taken under Section 49." 15. Significantly this Section 20 does not stipu....
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.... book). It is a matter of record that the said order has attained finality. Significantly, none of these proceedings pertain to any order passed under Section 20 of the Act. 20. Whether the outcome of proceedings under Section 17 of the Act, carried out under an order of remand would have any bearing on the exercise of the power by the Authority under Section 20 or not is an issue not raised before us, as such we need not examine the same, more so, given the common stand of the parties that initiation and outcome of the proceedings under Section 20 is not dependent thereupon. 21. Proceeding further, we notice that action initiated by the Prescribed Authority, under Section 20 of the Act, stood culminated in the passing of the order dated 14.07.2001 by the appellate Authority (Annexure-8 page 78 of the paper book), with a sum of Rs. 13,84,630.40 determined to be income concealed, thus warranting imposition of penalty amounting to Rs. 41,53,891.20, upon the petitioner. This order, challenged by the petitioner, was set aside by the appellate authority, and the matter remanded to the assessing officer for consideration afresh in terms of order dated 07th January 2002 (Annexure-9, pag....
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....uant to the passing of an order of remand by the appellate authority, notwithstanding the pendency of the proceedings before the Tribunal, the Assessing Authority ought to have completed the proceedings within a period of two years. Hence, to contend the action to be beyond the period of limitation is absolutely fallacious and legally unsustainable. Petitioner himself allowed the proceedings to be procrastinated by not pursuing early disposal. 26. In Bimal Kumar v. Shakuntala Debi, (2012) 3 SCC 548, para 37, the Apex Court, while dealing with the issue of limitation of execution of a decree passed by a Civil Court, observed that a decree would immediately become executable and only the time consumed in pursuing the appeal would be excluded for computation of the period of limitation under Article 136 of the Limitation Act, 1963 (Referred to as the Limitation Act). However, it clarified that such a position would arise if the execution is interdicted by passing of orders, staying operation of the decree by an appellate Court. In the absence of any such interdiction, the decree-holder would be entitled to have the decree executed immediately. The Court was dealing with a case where ....
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.... In Karnataka Housing Board v. K.A. Nagamani, (2019) 6 SCC 424, the Apex Court discussed the distinction between "appellate jurisdiction" and "revisional jurisdiction". It held that ordinarily, the power of revision could be exercised only when illegality, irrationality, or impropriety is found in the decision-making process of the fora below. Further, "Appeal" and "revision" are expressions of common usage in Indian statute and the distinction between "appellate jurisdiction" and "revisional jurisdiction" is well known though not well defined. Ordinarily, appellate jurisdiction involves a rehearing, as it were, on the law as well as fact and is invoked by an aggrieved person. Ordinarily, again, revisional jurisdiction is analogous to the power of superintendence and may sometimes be exercised even without it being invoked by a party. The extent of revisional jurisdiction is defined by the statute conferring such jurisdiction. The conferment of revisional jurisdiction is generally to keep tribunals subordinate to the revising Tribunal within the bounds of their authority to make them act according to law, according to the procedure established by law, and according to well-defined ....
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....assed by the appellate authority whereby the matter stood remanded to the assessing authority. The challenge in the revision petition was not limited only to the expansion of the scope of remand for consideration of assessment years other than the one's subject matter of scrutiny under Section 20 by the Assessing Officer. It was on a wholesome basis. As per the petitioner, the appellate authority ought to have allowed the appeal in toto and not remanded the matter for consideration afresh. 36. The record placed before us does not indicate whether the revisional authority had passed any interim order staying proceedings before the assessing authority. 37. Be that as it may, such an outcome would not have any bearing in the adjudication of the issue, in the petitioner's favour for the following reasons:- (a) petitioner had laid challenge to the order passed by the appellate authority remanding the matter to the assessing officer; (b) petitioner did not take any steps seeking an interdiction of such proceedings or expediting the revision petition within the stipulated period of limitation; (c) petitioner allowed both sets of proceedings to be procrastinated; (d) It is....