Set-off under sales tax law requires strict compliance with prescribed conditions; deemed registration cannot override them.

Entitlement to sales tax set-off under section 18-B and rule 11 depended on strict compliance with the prescribed conditions, including maintenance of Form 10 and timely filing of Form 12. A deeming fiction treating a dealer as registered from an earlier date could not override these independent requirements or expand the concession beyond the statute. Even a dealer otherwise entitled to registration would obtain set-off only on compliance with rule 11(4), and a defaulting dealer could not claim a better position. Non-compliance with rule 11(4) therefore defeated the set-off claim.

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Issues: Whether the opponents were entitled to claim set-off of general sales tax paid on purchases during the relevant period despite not having complied with the requirements of rule 11(4) of the Bombay Sales Tax (Exemptions, Set-off and Composition) Rules, 1954.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under section 18-B of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 and rule 11 made entitlement to drawback, set-off, or refund dependent not merely on the dealer's status but also on fulfillment of the prescribed conditions, including maintenance of a register in Form (10) and filing of the quarterly statement in Form (12) within time. Even assuming that the legal fiction under section 11(5) could operate so as to treat the dealer as registered from an earlier date, that fiction could not dispense with independent statutory requirements governing set-off. A dealer who had obtained registration in due time would itself be entitled to set-off only on compliance with rule 11(4), and a dealer who defaulted in registration could not be placed in a better position. The absence of compliance with rule 11(4) was therefore fatal to the claim.

Conclusion: The opponents were not entitled to the set-off claimed, and the answer was against them.

Ratio Decidendi: A legal fiction deeming registration cannot enlarge entitlement to set-off beyond the separate statutory conditions expressly prescribed for that concession.

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