The Officer Found Two New Issues Just As The Assessment Was About To Lapse
Referring a matter to the Departmental Valuation Officer stops the limitation clock. The Gujarat High Court has quashed a reference made the day before assessment became time-barred.
The Court held that the Assessing Officer had very ingeniously raised two issues for making a reference to the District Valuation Officer in order to cover up his inaction in completing the assessment in time. The order referring the matter — made a mere day before the assessment proceedings became time-barred — was quashed, and the writ petition succeeded.
- The timing was the evidence. One day before the bar is not a coincidence the Court was willing to overlook.
- The issues had already been answered — the assessee had replied on the assets and the depreciation claim in December 2022.
- Later notices did not raise them, which is what exposed the resurrection.
- A reference is not a way to buy time, which is how the Court read this one.
- Court
- High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad
- Bench
- Justice HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA, Justice HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE VAIBHAVI D. NANAVATI
- Citation
- Special Civil Application No. 13575 of 2023
- Case
- Special Civil Application No. 13575 of 2023
- Decided
- 3 September 2026
- Outcome
- Writ petition allowed; the reference order quashed
What the record showed
The assessee had already dealt with the valuation made on the assets by a reply of 2 December 2022, and with the claim of depreciation, so there would have been no further need to resurrect the issue.
The subsequent notices issued in June 2023 did not raise the determination of valuation on assets at all. It reappeared only in the order of 24 June 2023 making the reference.
What the Court made of it
The overall analysis and appreciation of the facts manifested that the Assessing Officer had very ingeniously raised two issues for making a reference to the District Valuation Officer, in order to cover up his inaction in completing the assessment proceedings before the limitation date.
The writ petition therefore succeeded, and the order of 24 June 2023 — by which the Assessing Officer referred the matter to the Departmental Valuation Officer a mere day before the assessment proceedings became time-barred — was quashed.
Who argued it
Appearances as recorded in the judgment of the Court.
Frequently asked
Can a reference to a valuation officer be used to extend an assessment?
Not where it is made to cover the officer's own inaction. This one, made a day before the bar, was quashed.
What made the timing suspicious?
The issues had already been answered and did not appear in the notices issued days earlier.
Testing a valuation reference against the limitation date
- Put the assessment's limitation date and the reference date side by side at the top of the petition.
- Trace each issue back through the notices; an issue that vanishes and returns is the argument.
- Show that the point was already answered on the record, so nothing remained to refer.
- Frame it as covering inaction rather than as mere irregularity.
Source. High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad, Special Civil Application No. 13575 of 2023, decided 3 September 2026 by Justice HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA, Justice HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE VAIBHAVI D. NANAVATI. This explainer is written from the judgment text as reported.
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