Statutory power to detain vehicles for failure to produce tax clearance certificates is absent, so such detention is unlawful.

Whether Section 47A of the Assam Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1939 authorises detention of vehicles for non-production of an agricultural income-tax clearance certificate was the central issue; the court found the statutory text contains no provision granting coercive detention power and the State filed no affidavit asserting such statutory authority, so detention power does not exist under Section 47A and any detention is illegal and ultra vires - writ petitions were allowed insofar as they challenged vehicle detention under that provision.

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Issues: Whether under Section 47A of the Assam Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1939, the competent authority is empowered to detain vehicles carrying tea for non-production of an agricultural income-tax clearance certificate.

Analysis: Section 47A requires production of a tax clearance certificate but the statutory text contains no provision conferring power to detain vehicles or to take coercive action for failure to produce the certificate. The affidavit on behalf of the State did not assert any statutory power to detain vehicles; instead it denied that vehicles had been detained. In light of the absence of any provision in the Act authorising detention, the matter can be resolved on the existence of statutory power without addressing the separate challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 47A or the Commissioner's circular.

Conclusion: There is no power under Section 47A of the Assam Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1939, to detain vehicles for non-production of tax clearance certificates; any such detention would be illegal, ultra vires and without authority of law. The writ petitions are allowed in that respect.

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