9911796707
TMI Blog1963 (12) TMI 22X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Act. It is contended by the learned counsel for the assessees that the orders of the Board of Revenue rejecting the revision petitions filed by the assessees fall within the ambit of section 23 of the Act and appeals against such orders would lie to the High Court. The argument of the learned counsel may be summarised thus: The revision to the Board of Revenue may be irregular or incompetent but still as the Board of Revenue exercises quasi-judicial functions its orders must ex facie indicate that the Board has applied its mind to the various aspects of the case. In exercising its revisional jurisdiction the Board must consider the questions raised before it and also give reasons for its decision. It is contended by the learned Gove ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a party to take cognizance of orders passed by subordinate authorities and to exercise revisional jurisdiction over them. Subclause (ii) contained another mode in which this revisional jurisdiction could be brought into operation, and that was by an application by a party. Under section 12-C(1) the right of appeal to the High Court was restricted specifically to orders of the Board of Revenue passed suo motu. The Andhra Act has made a departure from the Madras Act by omitting clause (ii) of section 12(3), with the result that the power of the Board of Revenue to entertain revision petitions at the instance of the aggrieved parties is omitted. Section 20(1), under which the assessee invoked the revisional jurisdiction of the Board of Reven ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le 33 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Rules, 1957, prescribes the authorities to which appeals may be preferred. Section 21 provides that any dealer objecting to an order passed or proceeding recorded by any prescribed authority on appeal under section 19, or by a Deputy Commissioner suo motu under sub-section (2) of section 20, may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal within sixty days from the date on which the order or proceeding was served on him. Section 22 provides that the dealer or the authority prescribed in this behalf, may prefer a revision to the High Court against an order of the Appellate Tribunal on the ground that it has either decided erroneously, or failed to decide, any question of law. From a scrutiny of these prov ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nts has relied upon the decision of the Supreme Court in Messrs Mela Ram Sons v. Commissioner of Income-tax, Punjab1956 S.C.J. 374; 29 I.T.R. 607. Section 30 of the Income-tax Act confers a right of appeal on the assessee. Section 31 provides for the bearing and disposal of the appeal. Section 33 confers a right of further appeal against orders passed under section 31. The question which arose for decision was whether an order dismissing an appeal as barred by limitation would be an order passed under section 31. Their Lordships held that "the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner refusing to condone the delay and refusing to admit, or rejecting after hearing, an appeal as time-barred, is an order passed in the appeal and must be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction 23(2) of the Orissa Sales Tax Act and therefore a second appeal would lie to the Tribunal. The next of the cases relied upon by the learned counsel is Burmah Shell Co. Ltd. v. Board of Revenue[1963] 14 S.T.C. 13. There it was held that in disposing of a revision the Board of Revenue exercised quasi-judicial functions and that the order should indicate that the Board had applied its mind to the various aspects of the problem arising for decision. The principle of this decision has no bearing on the present question. As already pointed out, from a consideration of the scheme of the Act and the specific language employed in section 23, it is manifest that an appeal lies to the High Court under section 23 only in a case, where the matte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
