DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF COMMERCIAL TAXES vs. H. R. SRI RAMULU

t 593 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF COMMERCIAL TAXES A v. H. R. SRI RAMULU January 11, 1977 (H. R. KHANNA, P. K. GOSWAMI AND P. S. KAILASAM, JJ.] Limitation-Star:i11g poi/// for computing tlie period of four years mentioll- ed ins. 21(3) for tlie exercise of revisio11al powers under s. 21(2) against an <Jrder under s. 12A of th,e Mysore Sales Tax Act 1957 in respect of an escaped turnover-Whether i11itial assessment order or an order made under s. 12A is 1he starting poillf for computation. In respect of the assessment years 1959-60 and 1960-61, fresh assessments were made under s. 12A of the Mysore General Sales Tax Act 1957 by the Commercial Tax Officer. By his order dated June 8, 1966, certain amounts which had escaped assessment under the .original assessment orders dated March 21, 1963 were included in the turnover of the respondent, but the deduc- tions in respect of shop rent and tree tax were, however, allowed as in the initial orders. The appellant, in exercise of the powers under s. 21 (2) of the Act, by his orders dated 'June 28, 1967 revised the orders dated June 8, 1966 disallowing the deductions in respect of the, shop rent, following the decision of this Court in Shinde Brother etc. v. Deputy Commissioner Raic/1ur [1967] I S.C.R. 548. Two rectification applications and the two appeals therefrom on the ground that the revisions of assessment were barred by limitation under s. 21 (3) of the Act and, as such, there was a mistake apparent on the record were rcj~cted as not maintainable. However, the writ petitions filed were allowed by the High Court holding that the orders dated June 28, 1967 were without jurisdiction since they had been made beyond the period of four years from the date of the initial assessment orders dated March 21, 1963. On appeals by special leave to this Court, HELD : The contention advanced on behalf of the appellants that the period of four years mentioned in s. 21 (3) of the Act should be computed from the orders dated June 8, 1966 made under S. I 2A cf the Act and not from the initial orders of assessment dated March 21, 1963 is well-founded. [5'}5 C-DJ B c D E Once an assessment is reopened, the initial order for assessment ceases to be operative. The effect of reopening the assessment is to vacate or set a£ide the initial order for assessment and to substitute in its place the order made F on reassessment. The initial order for reassessmellt cannot be said to survive even partiallv although the justification for dessessment arises because of turn- over escaping assessment in a limited field or only with respect to a part of the matter covered by the initial assessment order. The result of reopening the assessment is that a fresh order for reassessment would have to be made including for those matters in respect of which there is no allegation of , the t1m1over escaping assessment. [596 D-E] Jn the present case the assessment orders made under s. 12A were compre- ·G .fllensive orders and were not confined merely to matters which had escaped assessment earlier and the only orders which couTd be the subject-matter of revision by the appellant were the orders made under s. l 2A of the Act and not the iuitial assessment orders. [596 E-FJ J. Jaganmohan Rao & Ors. v. Commissioner of income-tax and Excess Profitr Tax, A ndhra Pradesh [1970] l S.C.R. 726=75 ITR 373; Commissioner of Sales Tax, Madhya Pradesh v. H. M. Es11fali H. M. Abd11/ali [1973] 3 S.C.R. H 1005=90 ITR 271, followed. lntemational Cotton Co_rporation (P) Ltd. v. Commercial Tax Officer, Hubli & Ors. [1975] 2 S.C.R. 345, applied. 594 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ( 1977] 2 S.C.R. A CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 145-146/ 1972. (Appeals by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 9-12-1970 of the Mysore High Court in Writ Petitions Nos. 2042 and 2065 /70). B Narayan Nettar, for the appellant. c D E F G H R. M. Mehta, for the respondent. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KHANNA, J.-These two appeals by special leave are against the common judgment of the Mysore High Court whereby the High Court in two petitions under article 226 of the Constitution of India quashed two orders made by the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Jaxe> appellant under section 21 of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as tlie Act) . The respondent is an ekise contractor. He was assessed under the Act for the assessment years 1959-60 and 1960-61 as per orders dated March 21, 1963 rtrade by the Commercial Tax Officer Raichur. Under those orders the taxable turnover of the respondent for the two years in question was determined after deducting the shop rent •and the tree tax. For the assessment year 1959-60, a sum of ~s. 2,10,542 was deducted and the net taxable turnover was determinetl to be Rs. 25,989. For the year 1960-61 a sum of Rs. 3,98,350 was dedl1cted and the net taxable turnover was deter- mined to be Rs. 26,657. The Commercial Tax Officer initiated proceedings under section 12A of the Act in respect of the aforesaid years because he was of the view that some items of turnover had escaped assessment. As per orders dated June 8, 1966 he made assessment by including in the turnover of the respondent certain amounts which had escaped assessment under the original asse1ssment orders dated March 21, 1963. The deduction in respect of shop rent and tree tax was, however, allowed to the respondent in orders dated June 8, 1966 as it had been allowed in initial orders dated March 21, 1963. On June 28, 1967 the appellant, i.e., the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, made two orders revising the orders dated June 8, 1966. In the said orders the appellant disallowed the deduction which had been allowed to the respondent in respect of _ the shop rent. The oappellant in those orders referred to the decision of this Court in Shinde Brother etc. v. Deputy Commissioner Raichur(') and held that the amount of shop rent being not excise duty "should not !Je deducted in computing the turnover of the respon- dent for the two years in question. The taxable turnover of the respon- dent for the two years in question was accordingly enhanced. (!) [1967] 1 S.C.R. 548. DY. COMMR. OF COMML. TAX v. H. R. SRI RAMULU (Khanna, J.)595 The respondent made two applications for rectification of the orders of the appellant dated June 28, 1967. It was urged on behalf of the respondent that the revision of assessments was barred by limitation under section 21 ( 3) of the Act and as such there was a mistake apparent on the record. The appellant rejected those appli- cations. The respondent then preferred two appeals to the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal too rejected those appeals on the ground that they were not maintainable. The respondent there- after filed two petitions in the High Court under article 226 for the issuance of writs in the nature of certiorari for quashing the orders dated June 28, 1967. The High Court, as already mentioned, allowed both the petitions and quashed orders dated June 28, 1967. In the opinion of the High Court, orders dated June 28, 1967 made by the appellant were without jurisdiction since they had been made beyond the period of four years from the date of the assessment orders dated March 21; 1963. Mr. Naravan Nettar. learned counsel for the appellant. has con- tended in appeal before us that the period of four years mentioned in section 21(3) of the Act should be computed from the orders dated June 8, 1966 made under section 12A of the Act and not from the initial orders of assessment dated March 21, 1963. The above stand has. been controverted by Mr. Mehta, who argued the case amicus curiae as no one appeared on behalf of. the respondent. After giving the matter our consideration, we are of the view that the contention advanced on behalf of the appellant is well-founded. Before, how- ever, dealing with the matter, we consider it appropriate to reproduce the relevent provisions of the Act. Section 12A of the Act relates to assessement of escaped turnover. Sub-section ( 1) of that section at the relevant time read as under : "(1) Where for any reason the whole or any part of the turnover of a dealer has escaped assessment to tax or licence fee or has been assessed at a lower rate than the rate at which it is assessable, the assessing authority may, subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), at any time within a period of five years from the expiry of the year to which the tax or licence fee relates, assess to the best of its judg- ment, the tax or licence fee payable on the turnover referred to after issuing a notice to the dealer and after making such enquiry as it considers necessary." A c E F Section 21 of the Act deals, inter alia. with revisional powers of the Deputy Commissioner. Sub-section (2) and (3) of that section G read as under : "(2) The Deputy Commissioner may of his own motion call for and examine the record of any order passed or oro- ceeding recorded under the provisions of this Act by a C0m- mercial Tax Officer subordinate to him and against which no appeal has been preferred to him umier section 20, for H the purpose of satisfying him'self as to the legality or pro- priety of such order or as to the regularity of such ornceed- inq and pass such order with respect thereto as he thinks fit. 4-112SCI/76 596 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1977] 2 S.C.R. A ( 3) In relation to an order of assessment passed under this Act, the power under sub-sections (1) and (2) shall be exercisable only within a period of four years from the date on which the order was passed." B c D E F G H The short question which arises for determination in these appeals is that in the event of an order having been made under section 12A of the Act, what is the starting point for computing the period of four years, mentioned in section 21 ( 3), for the exercise of the powers under section 21 (2). Is it the initial assessment order or is it the order made under section 12A ? In the context of the present case, the question to be answered is as to whether the period of four years is to be calculated from March 21, 1963 when the initial assessment orders were made, or from June 8, 1966 when the orders under sec- tion 12A of the Act were made. So far as this question is con- cerned, we are of the opinion that the period of four years should be calculated from June 8, 1966, i.e., the date on which orders under section 12A of the Act were made. The reason for that is that once an assessment is reopened, the initial order for assessment ceases to be operative. The effect of reopening the assessment is to vacate or set aside the initial order for assessment and to substitute in its place the order made on reassessment. The initial order for reassessment cannot be said to survive, even partially, although the justification for reassessment arises because of turnover escaping assessment in a limited field or only with respect to a part of the matter covered by