Plenary appellate powers permit merit-based relief despite no cross-objection, where the statute requires full disposal on merits.

Under the Orissa Sales Tax Act, the second appellate tribunal's plenary powers allowed it to confirm, reduce, enhance or annul an assessment and to dispose of the appeal on merits even if the State filed no cross-objection. The absence of a cross-objection was only optional procedural non-compliance and did not curtail the tribunal's jurisdiction to grant the relief warranted by law. The legal position affirmed was that appellate power remains fully available where the statute requires merit-based disposal, and complete relief may be granted notwithstanding the State's failure to cross-object.

---

---

Issues: Whether the Sales Tax Tribunal could grant relief to the State by restoring the addition to taxable turnover even though the State had not filed a cross-objection in second appeal.

Analysis: The reference turned on the scope of the Tribunal's appellate powers under the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947 and the Rules. The statutory scheme conferred on the Tribunal the same powers as the first appellate authority, including the power to confirm, reduce, enhance or annul the assessment, and the rules directed that, if no cross-objection was filed, the appeal was nevertheless to be disposed of on merits. The absence of a cross-objection did not curtail the Tribunal's jurisdiction to decide the matter fully and to pass the order required by law. The power to file cross-objections was optional, but it did not convert an available jurisdiction into a barred one.

Conclusion: The Tribunal could grant the appropriate relief on merits notwithstanding the State's failure to file a cross-objection.

Final Conclusion: The legal position affirmed was that the second appellate authority under the Orissa Sales Tax Act was not disabled from giving complete relief in accordance with law merely because no cross-objection had been filed by the State.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute confers plenary appellate powers and requires disposal of the appeal on merits, the absence of a cross-objection does not deprive the appellate tribunal of jurisdiction to make the order warranted by the case.

---