IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE C.N.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE K.SURENDRA MOHAN WEDNESDAY, THE 11TH FEBRUARY 2009 / 22ND MAGHA 1930 ST.Rev..No. 229 of 2006 ------------------------- TA.507/2004 of S.T.A.TRIBUNAL,ADDL.BENCH,PALAKKAD .................... PETITIONER/RESPONDENT/REVENUE: ------------------------------------------ STATE OF KERALA REPESENTED BY JOINT COMMISSIONER (LAW), COMMERCIAL TAXES, ERNAKULAM. BY SPL.GOVERNMENT PLEADER(TAXES), SRI.VINOD CHANDRAN RESPONDENT/APPELLANT/ASSESSEE : ----------------------------------------- DR.GEORGE JACOB, WYNAD RESINS, WANDOOR. ADV. SRI.R.RAMADAS THIS SALES TAX REVISION HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 11/02/2009, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING: C.R C .N. RAMACHANDRAN NAIR & K. SURENDRA MOHAN, JJ. -------------------------------------------- S.T.Rev. No. 229 OF 2006 -------------------------------------------- Dated this the 11th day of February, 2009 JUDGMENT Ramachandran Nair,J. The question raised in this revision filed by the State is whether the sales tax assessment of the respondent for the year 1998-99 completed on 22.03.04 is barred by limitation or not. The Tribunal by relying on Section 17(6) of the KGST Act held that since the time for completion of the assessment is 4 years from the end of the relevant year, the last date for completion of assessment for 1998-99 was 31.3.03 and so much so, the Tribunal declared the assessment as time barred and consequently invalid. 2. We have heard Government Pleader appearing for the petitioner and Sri.R.Ramdas, counsel appearing for the respondent. Government Pleader has relied on Annexure A1 which is the proceedings issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes on 17.3.03 under Section 17(7) of the KGST Act extending the period for assessment for 1998-99 beyond 31.03.03. According to STRV No.229/09 -:2:- the Government Pleader, by virtue of the proceedings issued by the Deputy Commissioner the assessment was not barred by limitation. Counsel appearing for the respondent however contended that the proceedings of the Deputy Commissioner produced in this Court was not relied on by the Department before the first appellate authority or before the Tribunal and consequently the Tribunal had no occasion to consider the same. Besides this, he submitted that no enquiry or crime was pending investigation against the respondent and there was no good or sufficient reason justifying the Commissioner to issue Annexure A1 order. We agree with the contention of the counsel for the respondent that the respondent cannot be surprised by producing the proceedings of the Deputy Commissioner before this Court for the first time. However, we find from the order of the first appellate authority that the assessment is sustained by him by referring to the amendment introduced to Section 17(6) with effect from 31.03.02 and which remained in force till 31.03.03. It is seen that the Finance Act, 2002 introduced an amendment to Section 17 (6), whereby the limitation provided for assessment was 5 years instead of the usual period of 4 years and the said provision was in STRV No.229/09 -:3:- force from 31.03.02 to 31.03.03. The question to be considered is whether this amendment will save the assessment of the respondent for the year 1998-99 which was completed beyond the usual period of 4 years, but within 5 years from the end of the relevant year. According to the counsel for the respondent the amendment is not applicable for the assessment year 1998-99 and the limitation for that is only for 4 years. The Government Pleader on the other hand contended that the amendment will be applicable for those assessments which get time barred on account of expiry of 4 years between these two dates, i.e., 31.03.02 and 31.03.03. 3. We are of the view that, the purpose of making the amendment applicable between the two dates which are the last dates for final orders is to save limitation only for two assessments i.e., for assessment years 1997-98 and 1998-99, which were getting time barred under the original provision on 31.03.02 and 31.3.03 respectively. In order to extent the time limit for completion of assessment for these two years by another one year, the amendment is brought out, making it effective from 31.3.02 to 31.3.03. We therefore hold that the amendment applies for the assessment year STRV No.229/09 -:4:- 1998-99 and so much so the assessment completed before 31.3.04 is well within time. The revision is therefore allowed by vacating the order of the Tribunal and by restoring the order of the first appellate authority. In view of the above finding, we do not propose to go into the validity of the proceedings issued by the Deputy Commissioner under Section 17(7) of the KGST Act. (C.N.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR) Judge. (K. SURENDRA MOHAN) Judge. ttb STRV No.229/09 -:5:-