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2021 (6) TMI 339 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxValidity of assessment order - time limitation - delay in service of demand notice - proper explanation for the delay or not - HELD THAT:- It is not in dispute that the petitioner was a dealer registered under the provisions of Jharkhand Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (JVAT Act) and Central Sales Tax, Act, 2006 (CST Act) and the petitioner filed application for surrender of the registration certificates before the Commercial Tax department w.e.f. March, 2015 for which acknowledgements regarding submission of such applications have been annexed as annexure 1 and 1/1 of each of the writ petitions. The petitioner was regularly filing its returns to the respondent-Commercial Tax department and its regular assessment proceedings were completed - The petitioner was served with four demand notices for the assessment years, 2009-10 and 2010-11 , both CST and JVAT through e-mail on 03.08.2018 wherein the date of payment has been notified as 13.08.2018, i.e., after expiry of more than four years from the alleged date of demand notices. In the present cases, the notices of demand have been communicated after expiry of the period of limitation for assessments but certainly within the period of limitation for recovery of demands. As per the order sheets, the notice for hearing for the purposes of assessment were issued under form JVAT 302 pursuant to which the petitioner appeared through his counsel with books of account and other documents /statutory forms but notice of demand was not issued to him, though they were prepared, corresponding entries were made in register VI and also in the dispatch register in continuity but were not dispatched to the petitioner and it has been stated in the counter affidavit that at best it is a clerical error of non- dispatch of the demand notices which may have happened due to inadvertence. Time limitation - HELD THAT:- Passing of order of assessment and issuance of demand notice are two different stages. Passing of assessment order is followed by verification of payments made by the assessee , preparation of demand notice, entry made in dispatch register and issuance of demand notice to the assessee and this is also coupled with entry in register VI. The limitation for completion of assessment is three years from the end of the financial year under section 35(8) but demand is recoverable as an arrear of land revenue under rule 17(4) and section 51 provides that for limitation for recovery of tax as 12 years from the date of relevant assessment - Rule 38 of the JVAT rules provides that all records specified in the said rule shall be retained and made available for inspections/audit/verifications for a period of five years, after the end of the year. In the present cases the order sheets reveal that the date on which the impugned orders of assessments were passed, the petitioner not only appeared through an advocate but even its liability was quantified and mentioned in the order sheets after passing the orders of assessment in separate sheets. The writ petitions being devoid of any merit, are hereby dismissed.
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