Statutory reference requires a real question of law; debatable tax entry construction justified reference to the High Court.

A statutory reference under section 15(1) depends on whether the Board's order discloses a question of law, not on whether its merits conclusion is correct. The Rajasthan High Court noted that the construction of clause (b) of item 8 of the Schedule to the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, including whether the entry was exhaustive or illustrative, the effect of the deeming language in column 3, and the relevance of the exemption notification under section 4(2), was debatable and not free from difficulty. The Board's refusal to state a case was therefore unjustified, and the matter had to be referred to the High Court.

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Issues: Whether the Board of Revenue was justified in refusing to state a case on the ground that no question of law arose, and whether the construction of clause (b) of item 8 of the Schedule to the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act gave rise to a referable question of law.

Analysis: The right to seek a reference under section 15(1) turned on whether the Board's order raised a question of law, not on the correctness of the Board's merits decision. The fact that the Board had taken a view on the taxability of disc-harrows and cultivators did not eliminate the legal issue whether the relevant schedule entry was exhaustive or illustrative, how the deeming language in column 3 operated, and what effect the exemption notification under section 4(2) had. The construction of the statutory entry itself was not free from doubt or difficulty, and therefore the matter disclosed a question of law warranting reference.

Conclusion: The refusal to state a case was unjustified, and the Board was required to refer the question to the High Court.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purpose of a statutory reference, the existence of a question of law depends on the nature of the issue arising from the order, not on the correctness of the authority's conclusion on merits; if the construction of the statutory entry is debatable, a reference must be made.

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