Accrued right of appeal protected against later tax-payment for entertaining sales tax appeals under the amended law.

The right of appeal accrued when assessment proceedings were initiated, and that right was governed by the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939, under which appeals could be entertained without prior payment of tax. A later provision in Section 21(6) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, requiring proof of tax and penalty payment before entertainment of an appeal, could not be applied retrospectively to curtail that accrued substantive right unless clear legislative intent existed. The Tribunal therefore had no jurisdiction to insist on payment as a condition precedent for entertaining the appeals, and the later statutory requirement was inapplicable.

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Issues: Whether the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal could insist on proof of payment of tax as a condition precedent for entertaining appeals arising from assessment proceedings initiated when the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939 was in force, despite the later commencement of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957.

Analysis: The right of appeal accrued on the date when the assessment proceedings were initiated. On that date, the governing law was the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939, under which Section 12-A permitted an appeal without requiring prior payment of tax as a condition for registration or entertainment of the appeal. The later provision in Section 21(6) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 introduced an onerous requirement of proof of payment of tax and penalty before an appeal could be entertained. That requirement could not be applied to appeals governed by the earlier law, because a pre-existing right of appeal is a substantive right and cannot be whittled down by a later amendment unless such retrospective effect is clearly provided.

Conclusion: The Tribunal had no jurisdiction to insist on payment of tax before entertaining the appeals, and the requirement under Section 21(6) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 was inapplicable.

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