9911796707
TMI Blog1998 (12) TMI 577X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e costs on the ground that the Commissioner of Sales Tax (hereinafter called "the CST", for short) does not have jurisdiction to impose adjournment cost as the law which has constituted the authority of CST, does not confer him with the power to do so. 2.. The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the sales tax authorities appointed under Delhi Sales Tax Act, 1975 (hereinafter "the Act", for short) are not courts. The provisions of CPC do not in terms apply to them except to the extent to which they have been specifically made applicable. A sales tax authority may not dismiss a case in default but must decide it on the merits; it does not have an inherent power to review its own order; and so also it cannot also impose adjo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (SC) ; AIR 1969 SC 430 their Lordships have quoted with approval from Sutherland on Statutory Construction-"an express grant of statutory power carries with it by necessary implication the authority to use all reasonable means to make such grant effective". Maxwell on the Interpretation of Statutes has been quoted saying "where an Act confers a jurisdiction, it impliedly also grants the power of doing all such acts, or employing such means, as are essentially necessary to its execution. Cui jurisdictio data est, ea quoque concessa esse videntur, sine quibus jurisdictio explicari non potuit." An instance is given based on Ex parte Martin (1879) 4 QBD 212 that "where an inferior court is empowered to grant an injunction, the power of punishi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or otherwise. If there was no power to give an adjournment, in a given case, the refusal to adjourn the hearing may by itself amount to denial of an opportunity of hearing. On the other hand, if adjournments were to be liberally granted, then the adjournment may in a given set of facts amount to an abuse of the process of law. A reasonable balance has to be struck between the two extremes. In a given set of facts, a prayer for adjournment may not be fully justified, still the authority may feel inclined to give an adjournment so that the ultimate cause of justice is not frustrated. While granting an adjournment, imposing of costs may convey a message to the party seeking an adjournment that adjournments are neither welcome nor to be granted ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ill have the power to grant costs if necessary for adjourning the hearing before him. 7. It was, however, complained by the learned counsel for the petitioner that after the passing of the impugned order the sales tax authorities have started imposing heavy adjournment costs which are at times vindictive. It is true that their Lordships have emphasised in Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Parson Tools and Plants [1975] 35 STC 413 (SC); (1975) 4 SCC 22 that delay in disposal of revenue matters adversely affects the steady inflow of revenue and financial stability of the State and hence the need for expeditious disposal. In our opinion, there is nothing wrong in costs for adjournment being imposed with the object of securing an expeditious deter ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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