Reference jurisdiction confined to specified Tribunal orders; rectification orders fall outside the statutory scheme.

A reference to the High Court under section 23(1) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1946 lay only from Tribunal orders passed under section 21(2) or section 22(1). A rectification order under section 23A was a distinct order and, on the plain wording of the statute, could not be brought within the enumerated categories by implication. The analogous scheme of the Income-tax Act, 1922 supported the same restrictive reading of reference jurisdiction. Accordingly, no reference could be entertained where it arose solely from a rectification order under section 23A, and the preliminary objection to maintainability was upheld.

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Issues: Whether a reference to the High Court lay under section 23(1) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1946, from an order passed by the Tribunal in rectification proceedings under section 23A of that Act.

Analysis: Section 23(1) authorises a reference only from orders passed by the Tribunal under section 21(2) or section 22(1). An order made in rectification under section 23A is a distinct order and is not one of the orders specified in section 23(1). The wording of the provision, read on its plain and grammatical construction, leaves no room to include rectification orders by implication. The analogous provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1922, support the same conclusion, because the right of reference there too was confined to appellate orders and did not extend to rectification orders. The High Court therefore had no jurisdiction to entertain references arising solely out of rectification orders under section 23A.

Conclusion: The reference was not maintainable, and the preliminary objection was rightly upheld.

Final Conclusion: Orders passed in rectification proceedings under section 23A did not give rise to a valid reference under section 23(1) of the Act.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute confers reference jurisdiction only in respect of specified categories of orders, a rectification order not included in that enumeration cannot be treated as an order from which a reference lies.

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