Composition payments under the Sales Tax Act may amount to acceptance of an offer, leaving no appealable or revisable order.

The composition mechanism under section 26 of the Sales Tax Act is described as an offer to compound alleged offences, which the assessee may accept or reject. Payment of the demanded amount was treated as acceptance of that offer, completing the arrangement and ending the criminal liability contemplated by the section. The correspondence exchanged before payment was characterised as negotiation rather than an adjudicatory order, and the threat of prosecution was held not to amount to coercion under section 15 of the Contract Act. As no operative order was made under section 21 of the Sales Tax Act, no appeal or revision lay.

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Issues: Whether the application in revision was maintainable against the amount fixed for composition under section 26 of the Sales Tax Act, and whether the payment made by the applicant created an appealable or revisable order.

Analysis: The composition process under section 26 was treated as an offer to compound the alleged offences, capable of acceptance or rejection by the applicant. The applicant paid the amount demanded, and that payment was treated as acceptance of the offer, resulting in a completed arrangement which ended the criminal liability contemplated by the section. The letters exchanged before payment were regarded as negotiations, not an adjudicatory order. The Tribunal also held that the threat of prosecution did not amount to coercion under section 15 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. Since there was no operative order made under section 21 of the Sales Tax Act, no appeal or revision lay.

Conclusion: The revision application was not maintainable and the preliminary objection on jurisdiction was upheld.

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