Composition of offence becomes complete on agreement, and the agreed amount is recoverable as a statutory liability.

Composition of an offence under the Mysore Sales Tax Act was treated as a consensual substitution for prosecution: once the dealer and the prescribed authority agreed on the composition amount, the composition was complete and operated as an acquittal, without waiting for actual payment. The agreed sum then became a binding statutory liability, so the department could enforce payment and recover the unpaid amount as a sum due under the Act. On that reasoning, composition under section 31 was complete on agreement, and the amount was recoverable under section 13(3).

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Issues: Whether composition of an offence under section 31 of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 became complete when the prescribed authority and the dealer agreed on the composition amount, and whether the unpaid composition amount could be recovered as an amount due under the Act under section 13(3).

Analysis: Composition under the Act was treated as a consensual arrangement in substitution of prosecution. The decisive element was not actual receipt of money, but the mutual agreement that a specified sum, if paid, would be accepted in full satisfaction of the offence. Once the dealer agreed to pay and the prescribed authority agreed to accept the amount by way of composition, the composition was complete and operated immediately as an acquittal. At that stage the agreement became binding on both sides: the dealer could resist prosecution, and the department could enforce payment. The sum fixed for composition therefore became a liability arising under the Act and was recoverable as an amount due.

Conclusion: Composition under section 31 was complete on agreement, not on actual payment, and the composition amount was recoverable under section 13(3). The petition was against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute permits compounding of an offence by agreement, composition is complete when the competent authority and the offender concur on the amount to be accepted in substitution of prosecution, and the agreed sum becomes legally enforceable and recoverable as a statutory liability.

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