Reference jurisdiction under sales tax law is unavailable when the reference application is rejected as time-barred

The High Court's power to compel a reference under section 11(4) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 arises only when the revising authority refuses to state a case on the ground that no question of law arises. Where the assessee's reference application is rejected as time-barred under section 11(1), that statutory precondition is not met, and the High Court lacks jurisdiction to direct a reference. The application for requiring a reference was therefore not maintainable and was rightly rejected.

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Issues: Whether the High Court could direct a reference under section 11(4) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 when the revising authority had dismissed the assessee's reference application under section 11(3) only on the ground that it was filed beyond the prescribed period.

Analysis: Section 11(4) empowers the High Court to require a revising authority to refer a question of law only where the authority has refused to state a case on the ground that no question of law arises from its order. Where the reference application itself has been rejected as time-barred under section 11(1), the statutory condition for invoking section 11(4) is not satisfied. In such a situation, the High Court has no jurisdiction under section 11 to compel a reference.

Conclusion: The application for requiring a reference was not maintainable and was rightly rejected.

Final Conclusion: The High Court declined to exercise reference jurisdiction under section 11 of the Act because the underlying application had been dismissed on limitation and not on the ground that no question of law arose.

Ratio Decidendi: The High Court's power to compel a reference under section 11(4) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 arises only when the revising authority refuses to state a case on the ground that no question of law arises, and not when the reference application is dismissed as time-barred.

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