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TMI Blog1982 (12) TMI 155X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssment shall be completed but that the tax shall not be collected pending orders of this Court. The batch of writ petitions were later dismissed in toto, against which order the petitioners went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court admitted the appeals and granted stay in the first instance but subsequently on the application of the State, the Supreme Court directed the petitioners to pay tax due in three equal quarterly instalments. The petitioners have accordingly paid the tax. Subsequently the appeals before the Supreme Court were also dismissed. The department thereupon issued notices to the petitioners calling upon them to pay the interest as per section 16(3) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act for the period commencing fro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cer/Bill Collector, failing which the amount will be recovered as if it were an arrear of land revenue and you will also be liable to interest as provided in section 16 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. ........................ Place: Date: Assessing Authority. NOTE: .................. Note: Where the assessing authority has, for reasons recorded in the assessment order, proposed that the dealer should pay the tax and surcharge on such tax assessed within a period of less than 30 days, he should strike out the figure 30 and note such lesser period specified in the order, and duly attest the entry." Sub-section (3) of section 16 of the Act provides for interest on unpaid tax. It reads as follows: "(3) If the ta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f tax was stayed by this Court and by the Supreme Court, it cannot be said that tax was "due" or that any interest is payable thereon. In so far as the levy of interest is concerned, it is provided by the statute there is no discretion in the authorities either to waive or reduce or enhance it. Construing a similar provision in the U.P. Sales Tax Act in Haji Lal Mohd. Biri Works v. State of U.P. [1973] 32 STC 496 (SC) the Supreme Court held that "according to section 8(1-A), simple interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum shall run on the amount of arrears of sales tax from the date specified in that sub-section. It would thus appear that the liability to pay interest is automatic and arises by operation of law. The amount of inter ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... charges in the taxable turnover and also deposited along with the revised returns the balance of the sales tax payable under the State and the Central Acts. In this situation the question arose whether the assessee was liable to pay interest on the delayed payment of sales tax relatable to freight charges. The Supreme Court held, by majority, that the freight charges had to be included in the original returns and the tax paid thereon and that the mere fact that the liability with respect to freight charges was in doubt or was the subject-matter of adjudication before the Supreme Court cannot be a ground for withholding the tax. It was also observed that the decision of the Supreme Court in Hindustan Sugar Mills' case [1979] 43 STC 13 (SC) d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... annot turn round and say that they are not liable to pay interest because of the absence of such demand. We may, in this connection, take analogy of a case where a dealer obtains a stay, with the result that the assessment cannot be made within four years as prescribed by the statute. His writ petition or appeal, as the case may be, is dismissed after four years and thereafter an assessment is made: Can he, in such a case, be permitted to contend that inasmuch as the assessment has been made beyond four years prescribed by the statute, the assessment is invalid? The answer can only be-no. And, in our opinion, the same answer holds good, with equal force, in the present cases. This is not a simple case where a truncated notice of assessment ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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