The Madras High Court, while allowing a writ petition, held that once an assessment order is rectified, the right to file an appeal against such order cannot be denied to the dealer under the Tamil Nadu VAT Act, 2006.
The petitioners, S. Sengodan, approached the Court challenging Return Memo dated 06.08.2021 returning of the appeal filed by the petitioner under Sections 51 / 52 of TNVAT Act, 2006.
The original assessment order passed on 19.03.2020 thus stood merged with the rectification order dated 29.04.2021. The petitioner therefore preferred an appeal before the Appellate Commissioner under Sections 51 and 53 of the TNVAT Act, 2006. By the impugned return memo dated 06.08.2021, the office of the 1 st respondent has stated that the appeal is not maintainable as time barred.
Section 84 of the Tamil Nadu Value-Added Tax Act, 2006, allows rectification of mistake of an order passed by an Assessing Authority, the Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority, including the Appellate Tribunal which passed the order under the aforesaid section, ”rectification of mistake” can be allowed on “error apparent on the face of the record”.
Justice C Saravanan observed that “if the order, passed originally stands substituted by another order under section 84 of the Tamil Nadu ValueAdded Tax Act, 2006, as in the present case, appellate remedy cannot disallowed. It can be appealed before the Appellate Commissioner under section 51/52 of the Tamil Nadu Value-Added Tax Act, 2006 as a fresh period of limitation would commence for appeal from passing of the order under review. Once an assessment order is rectified, the remedy to file an appeal against such assessment order cannot be denied.”
Allowing the writ petition, the Court observed that “therefore, there is no merits in the impugned return memos of the office of the 1 st respondent. The petitioner was well within his rights to have filed an appeal against the order/s dated 29.4.2021.”
Advocate B. Raveendran appeared for the petitioners.
S.Sengodan VS The Appellate Deputy Commissioner (ST)
CITATION: 2022 TAXSCAN (HC) 148
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