IMPORTANT POINT
The tribunal's findings on tax assessments were upheld as factual and supported by prior orders, with no substantial legal questions arising from the revision petitioner's claims.

JUDGMENT :

A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.

1. As both these O.T.Revisions impugn a common order of the Kerala Value Added Tax Appellate Tribunal, in Review Petition No.1 of 2021 in T.A. (VAT) No.1429 of 2018 and Review Petition No.6 of 2021 in T.A.(VAT) No.631 of 2019, they are taken up for consideration together and disposed by this common judgment.

2. The revision petitioner herein is engaged in jewellery business. For the assessment year 2016-2017, the revision petitioner had applied for payment of tax on compounded basis and the application filed in that regard was accepted by the department. Accordingly, the revision petitioner paid tax on compounded basis for the said assessment year during different months. It would appear that proceedings were initiated against the revision petitioner for the assessment year 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 for revising the assessments already done during the said years. The said proceedings resulted in an enhancement of the tax payable on compounded basis for the assessment year 2014-2015, and a modification of the tax payable on compounded basis for the assessment year 2015-2016. As a consequence of the enhancement made in the tax payable on compounded basis for those years, notices were issued to the revision petitioner for revising the tax payable on compounded basis for the different months in 2016-2017. One of the notices was for the period from April to June 2016 and the second notice was issued to cover the period from July 2016 to March 2017. The assessments were thereafter completed by modifying the tax payable on compounded basis for the assessment year 2016-2017 based on the enhancement made for the previous years.

3. Aggrieved by the orders passed by the assessing authority enhancing the tax payable on compounded basis for the assessment year 2016-2017, the revision petitioner preferred appeals before the first appellate authority. The same, however, came to be dismissed by the first appellate authority. In further appeals preferred by the revision petitioner before the appellate tribunal, the appellate tribunal initially allowed the appeals based on the orders passed by the tribunal in earlier V.A.T. appeals pertaining to the revision petitioner for the assessment years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 respectively. The appellate tribunal found that there was no justification for causing any revision in the tax payable on compounded basis by the assessee for the assessment year 2016-2017.

4. The revenue, thereafter, preferred review petitions before the appellate tribunal seeking a review of the orders passed by the appellate tribunal in the appeals preferred by the revision petitioner for the assessment year 2016-2017. In the review petition the State contended that through two other orders passed by the appellate tribunal in relation to the petitioner for the assessment years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, the appellate tribunal had confirmed the enhancement of tax payable on compounded basis by the revision petitioner for the assessment year 2014-2015 and had modified the tax payable on compounded basis of the assessment done on compounded basis for the assessment year 2015- 2016. Finding that the effect of the modification that was directed in relation to the tax payable on compounded basis for the assessment year 2015-2016, to the assessment for the year 2016-17, was in an amount identical to what had already been taken by the assessing authority earlier for the purposes of arriving at the tax payable on compounded basis for the assessment year 2016-2017, the tribunal proceeded to dismiss the appeals preferred by the revision petitioner herein for those years.

5. It is aggrieved by the orders passed by the appellate tribunal in the review petitions preferred by the State that the revision petitioner is before us through these O.T. Revisions raising the following substantial questions of law.

“ O.T. Rev (VAT) No.65 of 2023

I. Whether the order of the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal allowing the Review Pe