Assam Gas Company Ltd. Vs State Of Assam And 2 Ors. (Gauhati High Court)
‘Existence of assessment’ is a condition precedent for making a reassessment under Section 40 of Assam VAT Act, 2003
The case of Assam Gas Company Ltd. vs. State of Assam and Others, heard in the Gauhati High Court, revolves around the legality of a reassessment order issued under Section 40 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 (hereafter referred to as “the Act”). The petitioner challenged a reassessment order dated 17th March 2018, which claimed that the petitioner had failed to pay VAT on transmission charges amounting to Rs. 103,05,23,595 for the assessment year 2009-2010. The main contention of the petitioner was that the reassessment was invalid because there was no prior assessment under Sections 34, 35, 36, or 37 of the Act, which are prerequisites for initiating reassessment under Section 40.
Background and Arguments:
The petitioner, represented by Dr. A. Saraf, argued that the reassessment was incorrectly labeled as under Section 40 when it should have been under audit assessment under Section 36, which had become time-barred. According to Section 39 of the Act, no assessment can be completed after five years from the end of the relevant assessment year unless proceedings for prosecution are initiated, which wasn’t the case here. The petitioner further contended that since no initial assessment was completed under the specified sections, the reassessment under Section 40 was illegal.
