Sales tax refund withholding requires statutory preconditions; mere pendency of revision proceedings is not enough.

Refund of sales tax under section 33-C of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 cannot be deferred merely because tax revision cases are pending before the High Court. The statutory preconditions must be met: the refund-linked order must be the subject of an appeal or other pending proceeding, the authority must form the view that release of the refund is likely to adversely affect revenue, and prior approval of the Deputy Commissioner is required where mandated. An endorsement postponing refund only on the basis of pending revision proceedings, without satisfaction of these conditions or any stay order, is not sufficient to withhold the refund.

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Issues: Whether refund of sales tax could be withheld merely because tax revision cases were pending before the High Court, and whether the conditions under section 33-C of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 had been satisfied.

Analysis: Section 33-C permits withholding of a refund only when an order giving rise to refund is the subject-matter of an appeal or further proceeding, or another proceeding under the Act is pending, and the assessing or licensing authority forms the opinion that grant of refund is likely to adversely affect revenue. Even then, previous approval of the Deputy Commissioner is required. The endorsement issued by the Commercial Tax Officer showed that refund was deferred solely because tax revision cases were pending, without application of the statutory conditions or any order of stay. Mere pendency of revision proceedings, by itself, was insufficient to justify withholding the refund.

Conclusion: Refund could not be withheld merely on the ground that tax revision cases were pending, and the statutory requirements of section 33-C had to be considered before any refusal or deferment of refund.

Ratio Decidendi: Refund under section 33-C cannot be withheld on pendency alone; the authority must satisfy the statutory preconditions, including the opinion that refund would adversely affect revenue and prior approval where required.

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