Deposit of admitted tax applies only to tax actually admitted in assessment proceedings, not merely tax found payable in law.

The proviso to section 9(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act was treated as applying only where tax had actually been admitted by the assessee before the assessing authority or in the assessment proceedings. If no tax was so admitted, the condition for deposit of admitted tax was not attracted, even if tax was otherwise found payable in law. On that basis, an appeal could not be rejected for want of deposit where the record showed no admitted tax in the assessment proceedings, and the appeal remained maintainable without such deposit.

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Issues: (i) Whether the dealer was liable to admit any tax on the turnover of goods imported against C form under section 3(1)(b); (ii) whether the dealer's appeal was maintainable without deposit of the admitted tax under section 9(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act.

Issue (i):

Analysis: The question turned on whether any tax had in fact been admitted by the assessee before the assessing authority or in the proceedings before that authority. The governing proviso to section 9(1) was treated as depending on what was actually admitted in the return or during assessment proceedings, not on what might have been legally due. Since the assessee had not admitted any tax as payable before the assessing authority, the statutory condition was not attracted.

Conclusion: The issue was answered in favour of the assessee and against the Commissioner.

Issue (ii):

Analysis: The maintainability of the appeal depended on the proviso to section 9(1) as it then stood. The Court held that the proviso concerned the factual admission of tax before the assessing authority, and not the bona fides of non-payment or the legal reality of tax liability. Absence of any admitted tax in the assessment proceedings meant that the appeal could not be rejected for want of deposit of admitted tax.

Conclusion: The appeal was held to be maintainable without deposit of tax, and this issue was answered in favour of the assessee and against the Commissioner.

Final Conclusion: Both referred questions were answered in favour of the assessee, and the reference was disposed of accordingly.

Ratio Decidendi: The requirement of deposit under the proviso to section 9(1) applies only to tax actually admitted by the assessee before the assessing authority or in the assessment proceedings, and not to tax merely found payable in law.

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