JUDGMENT :

JOYMALYA BAGCHI, J.

1. Petitioner has assailed the endorsement, dated 15.12.2020 of the 1st respondent rejecting the declarations in Form ‘C’ which were obtained by it in the year 2020 and consequentially refusing to reopen the Assessment Order dated 4.12.2015 in respect of the Assessment Year 2012-13.

2. Learned Counsel for the Department submit that the authorities had no power to reopen the proceedings after lapse of four years, in view of Section 21(4) of the Andhra Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (‘the A.P. VAT Act’ for brevity).

3. We have considered the materials on record.

4. The declaration in Form ‘C’ or Form ‘F’ or the certificate in Form ‘E-1’ or Form ‘E-II’ under the A.P. VAT Act is to be filed within the time frame as envisaged in Rule 12(7) of the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957 (‘the Rules’ for brevity), which reads as follows:

“12(7): The declaration in Form ‘C’ or Form ‘F’ or the certificate in Form ‘E-l’ or Form ‘E-II’ shall be furnished to the prescribed authority within three months after the end of the period to which the declaration or the certificate relates:

Provided that if the prescribed authority is satisfied that the person concerned was prevented by sufficient cause from furnishing such declaration or certificate within the aforesaid time, that authority may allow such declaration or certificate to be furnished within such further time as that authority may permit.”

5. A perusal of the said Rule shows that the assessee is required to furnish the declaration in Form ‘C’ or ‘F’ or ‘E-l’ or ‘E-II’ within three months after the end of the period for which declaration or the certificate relates, i.e. the Assessment Year. Proviso to the Rule, however, empowers the prescribed authority to permit such declarations/certificates beyond the aforesaid time provided ‘sufficient cause’ to the satisfaction of the authority is shown.

6. In the present case, the assessee was required to file the forms by June, 2013 but has failed to do so. In the meantime, Assessment Order was passed in 2015 which also was not appealed by the assessee. Only in the year 2020, the assessee had approached the Commissioner to accept the declaration in Form ‘C’ and reopen the assessment. The Commissioner, however, turned down the prayer with the endorsement that he had no power to reopen the assessment after a lapse of four years.

7. As per Section 9 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (‘Act of 1956’ for brevity), provisions relating to assessment, re-assessment or reopening under general sales tax law of the appropriate State, i.e. A.P. Value Added Tax Act in the present case, shall apply to the proceedings under the Act of 1956. Section 21 of the A.P. VAT Act relates to Assessment. Sub-Sections (4) and (5) of Section 21 of the A.P. VAT Act provide the time frame within which such assessment is to be made. They read as under:

Sub-Section (4):

“The authority prescribed may, based on any information available or on any other basis, conduct a detailed scrutiny of the accounts of any VAT dealer or TOT dealer and where any assessment as a result of such scrutiny becomes necessary, such assessment shall be made within a period of four years from the end of the period for which the assessment is to be made.”

Sub-Section (5):

“Where any willful evasion of tax has been committed by a dealer, an assessment shall be made to the best of his judgment by the authority prescribed within a period of six years of date of filing of the return or the first return relating to such offence.”

8. From the aforesaid statutory scheme, it appears that the prescribed authority may make assessment within four years from the end of the period for which the assessment is made. Sub-Section (5) relates to an enlarged period of six years in the event of willful evasion of tax. The time frame under the aforesaid provision, however, would not include such period as prescribed in sub-section (7) of Section 21 when assessment is stayed by the Appel