Retrospective appeal conditions cannot impose a heavier deposit requirement where proceedings began before the amendment.

The right of appeal was held to accrue when the assessment proceedings commenced, so a later amendment imposing a heavier precondition for admission could not apply retrospectively. For appeals arising from returns filed before the amendment of section 22(1), the assessee remained governed by the unamended proviso requiring only payment of the tax admitted to be due. The appellate authority could not insist on deposit of the entire assessed tax as a condition for hearing the appeal, and the contrary order was quashed.

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Issues: Whether, for an appeal arising from assessments based on returns filed before the amendment of section 22(1), the assessee could be required to deposit the entire assessed tax as a condition for admission of the appeal.

Analysis: The pre-amendment proviso to section 22(1) required only payment of the tax admitted to be due before an appeal could be entertained. The amendment of 25 November 1949 introduced a more onerous requirement, but the decisive date for the accrual of the right of appeal was the initiation of the proceedings, not the date of the assessment order. As the relevant returns had been filed before the amendment, the appeal was governed by the unamended provision. The right to appeal could not be impaired by the later procedural change, and the assessee was bound only to deposit the amount admitted to be due.

Conclusion: The assessee was not liable to deposit the entire assessed tax as a precondition to the appeal, and the contrary order was quashed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal-right conditions were governed by the law in force when the proceedings commenced, and the appellate authority was required to hear the appeal without insisting on full deposit of the assessed tax.

Ratio Decidendi: The right of appeal accrues on the initiation of the proceedings, and a subsequent amendment imposing a heavier condition for appeal cannot apply retrospectively to deprive the assessee of the earlier and less onerous procedural right.

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