Consent assessment appeals and pre-deposit under sales tax law depend on whether tax liability is admitted or wholly disputed.

An assessment order made by consent under section 12(3) of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 remained appealable under section 20 because the statute allowed appeals against assessment orders and contained no exclusion for consent assessments. The pre-deposit requirement in the proviso to section 20(1) applied only to tax expressly admitted to be due; where the entire assessment was disputed, there was no admitted liability and the appeal could not be rejected for want of deposit. The appellate authority and Tribunal were therefore required to reconsider the matter on merits.

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Issues: (i) whether an assessment made by consent under section 12(3) of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 was appealable under section 20; (ii) whether an appeal under section 20 was not entertainable for want of deposit of tax where the whole assessment was challenged.

Issue (i): whether an assessment made by consent under section 12(3) of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 was appealable under section 20.

Analysis: Section 20 of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 authorised an appeal by an assessee against every order of assessment made under section 12(2) and section 12(3). The character of the order as an assessment was decisive, and the fact that it was made by consent did not remove it from the scope of section 20. The statute contained no provision excluding an appeal from a consent assessment, and the appeal therefore could not have been rejected as incompetent on that ground.

Conclusion: The assessment made by consent remained appealable under section 20, and the objection to maintainability failed.

Issue (ii): whether an appeal under section 20 was not entertainable for want of deposit of tax where the whole assessment was challenged.

Analysis: The proviso to section 20(1) required proof of payment only of tax admitted by the appellant to be due, or such instalments thereof as had become payable. That requirement applied where part of the assessed tax was not in dispute and was admitted to be payable. Where the entire assessment was under challenge, there was no admitted liability within the meaning of the proviso. A disclosed turnover did not amount to an admission of tax due at the appellate stage.

Conclusion: The absence of deposit did not bar the appeal because no admitted tax liability arose when the whole assessment was disputed.

Final Conclusion: The appellate authority and the Tribunal were not justified in refusing to decide the matter on merits, and the appeal had to be reconsidered afresh in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: An appeal under section 20 of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 lies against an assessment order notwithstanding that it was made by consent, and the pre-deposit condition in the proviso to section 20(1) applies only to tax expressly admitted to be due and not to an assessment wholly disputed in appeal.

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