Statutory right of appeal limited to suo motu revision orders; assessee's appeal against rejected revision petition was not maintainable.

A statutory right of appeal must arise from the express language of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, and cannot be extended by implication. Construing sections 19, 20(1), 21, 22 and 23 together, the High Court held that section 23 confined the further appeal to orders passed by the Board of Revenue in suo motu revisional action under section 20(1). That provision did not cover an order rejecting a revision petition filed by the assessee at its own instance. The appeal was therefore not maintainable, and the Court rejected the attempt to enlarge the appellate remedy through liberal interpretation.

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Issues: Whether an appeal to the High Court lay under section 23 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 against an order of the Board of Revenue rejecting a revision petition filed by the assessee under section 20(1) of the Act.

Analysis: Section 23 was construed in the context of the scheme of the Act, which distinguished between revisional action taken suo motu by the Board of Revenue and proceedings initiated at the instance of a party. The provisions of sections 19, 21 and 22 showed that the Act separately provided the assessee with specified appellate remedies, while section 20(1) empowered the Board to act suo motu. The wording of section 23 confined the further appeal to orders relating to assessment passed by the Board suo motu under section 20(1). The Court rejected a liberal construction extending the appeal right to orders made on assessee-initiated revision petitions, and held that there is no inherent right of appeal unless conferred by statute. The earlier authorities relied upon by the appellants were distinguished as dealing with different statutory language and different questions.

Conclusion: An appeal under section 23 was not maintainable against the Board of Revenue's order rejecting the assessee's revision petition; the appeal was accordingly rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory right of appeal must be found within the express language of the enactment and, where the provision confines appeals to orders passed suo motu by the revisional authority, it cannot be extended to orders passed on revisions initiated by a party.

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