Statutory transfer of pending revision petitions to appeal forum bars refusal of jurisdiction based on original petition form.

Pending revision petitions under the unamended sales tax law were statutorily transferred to the Appellate Tribunal and deemed to be appeals under the amending provision. Once transferred, the Tribunal had to hear and decide them as appeals on merits and could not refuse jurisdiction because the original pleadings invoked the Commissioner's suo motu revisional power. The residual revisional power under the amended law was limited to prejudicial orders affecting revenue and did not apply to these matters. The Tribunal's retransmission of the records to the Commissioner was therefore invalid and was set aside.

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Issues: Whether revision petitions pending before the Commissioner under the unamended sales tax law stood transferred to the Appellate Tribunal and had to be disposed of as appeals, and whether the Tribunal could refuse to hear them on the ground that the petitions had invoked the Commissioner's suo motu revisional power.

Analysis: Pending revision petitions presented before the amendment and still pending before the Commissioner were statutorily transferred by the amending provision to the Appellate Tribunal and were transformed into appeals to be disposed of as such under the principal Act. Once the matters acquired the character of appeals, the Tribunal had no competence to decline hearing them on the ground that the original petitions had referred to the Commissioner's suo motu revisional power. The remaining revisional power under the amended law was confined to prejudicial orders affecting revenue, which was not the situation in these cases.

Conclusion: The Tribunal was bound to hear and decide the transferred matters on merits, and its orders retransmitting the records to the Commissioner were invalid.

Final Conclusion: The orders of retransmission were set aside and the Tribunal was directed to proceed with the matters as appeals in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute expressly transfers pending revision petitions to an appellate forum and deems them appeals, the transferee forum cannot decline jurisdiction on the basis of the form or content of the original revision petitions.

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