Vested right of appeal and saving clause under a repealed sales tax law preserved the State's appeal remedy.

On repeal of the General Sales Tax Act, 1125 and replacement by the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, pending assessment proceedings were to be treated under the new Act unless an accrued right was already protected by the saving clause. The right of appeal is vested, but a mere expectation of finality does not crystallise until the appellate order is made. Applying section 61, the pending matter was deemed to continue under the 1963 Act, so the State Government's statutory right of appeal under section 39 remained available against the appellate order. The preliminary objection to the appeal was therefore overruled.

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Issues: Whether, on repeal of the General Sales Tax Act, 1125 and its replacement by the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, the State Government could maintain an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against an appellate order passed in a pending assessment proceeding initiated under the earlier Act.

Analysis: The right of appeal is a vested right, but the asserted immunity from further appeal does not become a vested right of finality until the appellate order is actually made. The repeal and saving provision in section 61 of the 1963 Act required pending proceedings to be treated as proceedings under the new Act unless protected by an already accrued right. The Court applied the principle that a pending matter must, by the deeming provision, be dealt with under the new law where no vested right to finality had crystallised before the new Act came into force. On that basis, the appeal filed by the assessee was treated as one under the 1963 Act, and the State Government's statutory right of appeal under section 39 became available.

Conclusion: The State Government was entitled to appeal to the Appellate Tribunal under the 1963 Act, and the preliminary objection to its appeal was rightly overruled.

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