Refund interest in taxing statutes arises only from express legislative authority, not from absence of a prohibition.

Interest on refund of estate duty was held not payable in the absence of an express statutory provision. The Court reasoned that, in taxing statutes, entitlement to refund interest arises only when the legislature positively authorises it; a mere absence of prohibition is insufficient. It distinguished authorities based on equitable interest or delayed payment because they did not concern tax refunds under a fiscal enactment. The existence of specific interest provisions elsewhere in the Estate Duty Act, 1953, and in similar statutes indicated a deliberate exclusion where no refund-interest clause was enacted.

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Issues: Whether, in the absence of an express provision in the Estate Duty Act, 1953, interest is payable on refund of estate duty arising from an appellate order of the Tribunal.

Analysis: The Act provided for interest in specified situations, including under section 53(3) and section 64(7), and similar fiscal enactments also contained express refund-interest provisions. The Court held that in taxing statutes the decisive question is not whether there is a prohibition against interest, but whether the statute positively authorises it. Decisions relied on by the petitioner concerning equitable interest or delayed payment of money were distinguished as they did not concern refund of tax under a taxing statute. The Court applied the principle that tax refunds become legally due only when the assessment is modified or annulled in appeal, and that legislative provision for interest in some cases indicates a conscious exclusion in others.

Conclusion: Interest on refund of estate duty is not payable unless the statute specifically provides for it; the petitioner was not entitled to interest on the refunded amount.

Ratio Decidendi: In a taxing statute, a right to interest on refund exists only where the statute expressly provides for it; absence of prohibition is insufficient to create such entitlement.

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