Form C filing time under CST rules cannot defeat concessional tax benefit when declarations are filed before assessment.

The expression "in the prescribed manner" in section 8(4) of the Central Sales Tax Act was read as regulating only the mode of furnishing Form C declarations, not the time for filing them. A rule-made time limit could not, by itself, defeat the concessional rate under section 8(1) where the declarations were furnished before assessment. On that basis, Form C declarations filed before the assessment order had to be considered, and the assessment, appellate and revisional orders were set aside with a remand for fresh assessment.

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Issues: Whether the expression "in the prescribed manner" in section 8(4) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 authorises the rules to fix a time limit for filing Form C declarations so as to deny the concessional rate under section 8(1) when the declarations are filed before assessment.

Analysis: The expression "in the prescribed manner" was construed as referring only to the mode of furnishing the declaration and not to the time within which it must be filed. The Court relied on the distinction between manner and time, and noted that where the Legislature intended both the manner and the time to be regulated by rules, it used express language to that effect. Rule 6 fixed the time for filing the return and declaration forms, but non-compliance with that time could not, by itself, deprive the dealer of the statutory concession under section 8(1) if the declarations were furnished before the assessment order was made.

Conclusion: The time limit in rule 6 did not control the statutory concession under section 8(1), and the Form C declarations filed before assessment had to be taken into account.

Final Conclusion: The assessment and the appellate and revisional orders were set aside, and the matter was sent back for fresh assessment after considering the declarations filed by the dealer.

Ratio Decidendi: The words "in the prescribed manner" in section 8(4) govern only the mode of furnishing declarations and do not authorise exclusion of the concessional tax benefit merely because the declarations were filed after the time fixed by the rules, where they were filed before assessment.

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