State of Madhya Pradesh Vs. Haji Hasan
Dada [1965] INSC 271 (2 December 1965)
02/12/1965 SHAH, J.C.
SHAH, J.C.
SUBBARAO, K.
SIKRI, S.M.
CITATION: 1966 AIR 905 1966 SCR (2) 854
CITATOR INFO:
RF 1986 SC1556 (24)
ACT:
C.P. and Berar Sales-tax Act (21 of 1947), s.
claim for refund--When can be ordered.
HEADNOTE:
The respondent was assessed to tax by the
Assistant Commissioner of Sales-tax under the C.P. and Berar Sales-tax Act,
1947 on the turnover ,of his business and he paid the tax. After the order of
assessment the Board ,of Revenue gave a ruling that dyeing charges were not
taxable under the Act. The respondent applied to the Assistant Commissioner,
under s. 13 before its amendment in 1953 for refund, on the plea that the
amount claimed represented dyeing charges included in his turnover. The
Assistant Commissioner rejected the application, but the Board of Revenue
ordered the case to be returned to the Commissioner for examination of the
claim for refund on merits. At the instance of the State, the Board referred to
the High Court, the question whether there was any bar to the examination on
merits of claims for refund under s. 13 as originally ,enacted. The High Court
held that there was no bar In appeal to this Court,
HELD: The application for refund of tax was
not 'maintainable under the section as originally framed.
The Assistant Commissioner is, within the
limits of his jurisdiction and authority, competent to decide all questions
which arise before him; his orders are liable to be set aside in appeal or
modified in revision. But under the Act, the Assistant Commissioner-who
exercises the powers of the Commissioner-has no power to review his decision,
and so long as his order is not set aside or modified,, a dealer cannot call
upon him to ignore the previous order and grant refund contrary to the plain
direction of his order. [857 C, H] Commissioner of Income-tax v. Tribune Trust
L.R. 74 I.A. 306 applied.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal
No. 1007 of 1964.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and
order dated September 13, 1961, of the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) in
Civil Reference No. 1 of 1961.
T. V. R. Tatachari and B. R. G. K. Achar, for
the appellant.
The respondent did not appear.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Shah, J. By order dated April 17, 1952, the respondent Haji Hasan Dada was
assessed by the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax, Nagpur Region, to pay tax
under the Central Provinces & Berar Sales Tax Act 21 of 1947 on the
turnover from his business in yam for the period November 13, 1947 to November
1, 1948. The respondent paid the amount of tax assessed on July 8, 1952.
Thereafter relying upon s. 13 of the C.P. & Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947 he
applied on November 20, 1952 to the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax for an
order refunding Rs. 873/10/- on the plea that in the turnover of his business
were included dyeing charges which were not taxable under the Act, and which
since the order of assessment were held by the Board of Revenue to be not
taxable. The Assistant Commissioner rejected the application, and the order was
confirmed by the Commissioner of Sales Tax in appeal. The Board of Revenue,
Madhya Pradesh, however, set aside the order and ordered that the case be
returned to the Commissioner "for disposal afresh in the light of the
legal principles explained in Sheikh Gauhar Sheikh Nazir of Balaghat v. The
State(1)".
During the pendency of the proceedings before
the taxing authorities, s. 13 of the Act was amended with retrospective effect.
It is claimed by the State that under the amended section the right to obtain
refund in cases similar to those under examination was. taken away
retrospectively.
The State of Madhya Pradesh moved the Board
of Revenuer for a reference under s. 23 of the Act to the High Court, and the
Board of Revenue referred the following three questions :
"1. Is ruling 57 (in Sheikh Gauhar's
case-3 S.T.C. 331) good law ? In other words, was the Board right in holding
that the Privy Council's decision in Commissioner of Income- tax v. Tribune.
Trust (A.I.R. 1948 P.C. 102) constituted no bar to the examination on merits of
claims for refund made under the original section 13 of the Sales Tax Act XXI
of 1947 within the time-limit mentioned in it ?
2. Has section 24 of Act XX of 1953 been
validly enacted, in so far as it seeks to give retrospective effect to the
amended section 13 of Act XXI of 1947-as from the very commencement of the
latter on 1-6-47 ? and 3.If the answer to question No. 2 is in the affirmative,
does sub-section (3) of the new section 13 constitute a bar to the examination
on merits of the claim for refund made by the assessee in the present case
?" (1) 3 S.T.C. 331.
L8Sup.CI/66-8 856 The High Court held that by
s. 13 of the Act as originally enacted, the respondent had "a valuable
right to ask for refund of the amount of the tax paid by him in excess of the
amount lawfully due" and that "the right to obtain a refund being a
substantive right given to the respondent by the statute and not being a matter
of mere procedure", this right could not be taken away except by clear and
unambiguous words, and S. 13 as amended was not legislation which satisfied
that test. The High Court accordingly answered the questions as follows :
"1. Ruling No. 57 is good law, and, in
our opinion, the Board was right.
2. Section 24 of Act XX of 1953 has been
validly enacted.
3. The new section 13 sub-section (3), does
not bar an examination on merits of the claim for refund made on 20-11-1952 by
the assessee." With special leave, the State of Maharashtra, upon whom the
rights of the State of Madhya Pradesh have devolved by virtue of the States
Reorganisation Act, 1956, has appealed to this ,.Court.
We are of the view that the first question
alone need be answered in this appeal, and on the answer we propose to record
the claim made by the respondent must stand rejected.
Section 13 of the Act, as originally enacted,
and which applied during the ,year of assessment, read as follows :
"The Commissioner shall, in the
prescribed manner and either 'by cash payment or, at the option of the dealer,
by deduction of such excess from the amount of tax due in respect of any other
period, refund to a registered dealer applying in this behalf any amount of tax
or penalty paid by such dealer in excess of the amount due from him under this
Act.
Provided that no claim for refund shall be
allowed unless it is made within twelve months from the date on which the order
of assessment with or without penalty was passed or within six months from the
date on which the final order is passed on appeal, revision, review or
reference in respect of the order of assessment with or without penalty."
The amendment to S. 13 by Act XX of 1953 need not, for reasons already set out,
be considered.
857 Section 13, in terms authorised the
Commissioner to grant refund to a registered dealer applying in that behalf, of
any amount of tax or penalty paid by such dealer in excess of the amount due from
him under the Act. The section implies that refund may be granted only of the
amount which is not lawfully due, and whether a certain amount is lawfully due
or not, must be determined by the Assistant Commissioner in making the order of
assessment or re- assessment. The order of the Assistant Commissioner is
undoubtedly not final : it is liable to be set aside in appeal or modified in a
revision application under the provisions of the Act. But so long as the order
passed by the Assistant Commissioner is not so set aside or modified, a dealer
cannot call upon him to ignore the previous order, and grant refund contrary to
the plain direction of the order.
There is abundant authority for the view that
until it is set aside by appropriate proceedings under the Act which authorises
the levy of tax, full effect must be given to an order of assessment, even if
it be later found that the order was erroneous in law : e.g. Commissioner of
Income Tax, Punjab, North-West Frontier and Delhi Provinces, Lahore v. Tribune
Trust, Lahore(1). In that case the Trust which had been in previous years
assessed to, and had paid, income-tax, claimed in respect of its assessment for
the year 1932-33 that it was exempt from taxation. In appeal which was carried
to the Judicial Committee, the contention was upheld. Before the judgment of
the Judicial Committee was pronounced, assessments to income-tax were made on
the Trust for the years 1933-34 to 1938-39. After the Board's decision, the
Trust applied to the Commissioner of Income- tax for an order for refund of
income-tax. The High Court of Lahore held in a reference under s. 66(3) of the
Indian Income-tax Act that the assessments made for the years 1933- 34 to
1938-39 "were a nullity", and that the Trust could not be denied the
relief. The Judicial Committee reversed the order of the High Court and held
that the assessments which were duly made by the Income-tax Officer in the
proper exercise of his duty were validly made and were effective until they
were set aside.
The Assistant Commissioner appointed under
the Act is within the limits of his jurisdiction and authority competent to
decide all the questions which arise before him : his orders, it is true, are
liable to be set aside in appeal or modified in revision as provided by the
Act. But under the Act the Assistant Commissioner who exercises the powers of
the Commissioner-has no power to (1) L.R. 74 I.A. 306.
858 review his decision, nor is he authorised
to ignore his previous order, and to pass an order for refund inconsistent with
his previous order which has not been set aside by appropriate proceedings.
It is somewhat unfortunate that a later
decision of the Bombay High Court in State of Bombay v. Purushottamdas
Dwarkadas Patel(1)-a case arising under S. 13 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act,
1946-which decided the identical question which arose in this appeal, was not
brought to the notice of the High Court. In that case it was held by the High
Court that an application for refund of sales tax paid under an order of
assessment cannot be entertained by the Sales Tax Officer on the plea that the
order was made on an erroneous view of the law, unless the order was set aside
in appropriate proceedings by way of appeal or revision. The Court in that case
in a reference made under the Bombay Sales Tax Act disapproved of the view of
the Board of Revenue which had in arriving at its decision followed the
precedent in Sheikh Gauhar Sheikh Nazir's case (2).
Application for refund of tax was, therefore,
not maintainable under s. 13 of the C.P. & Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947 as
originally framed.
The appeal must therefore be allowed. The
parties to bear their own costs in this Court and in the High Court.
Appeal allowed.
(1) 8 S.T.C. 379. (2) 3 S.T.C. 331.
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