Refund of sales tax after set-aside assessment follows where no enforceable demand survives pending fresh reassessment.

Refund of sales tax paid against an assessment that has been set aside and remanded for fresh assessment is payable under section 14 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947, because no enforceable demand survives until reassessment is completed. The liability after the appellate setting aside of the assessment is only contingent, not a present dues liability under the Act. Applying the earlier Bench principle, the contrary contention that refund arises only after complete annulment was rejected. The assessee was therefore entitled to refund, and the refusal to refund could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether refund of sales tax paid under an assessment is payable when the assessment has been set aside and the matter remanded for fresh assessment.

Analysis: The refund claim was founded on section 14 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947. The assessments from which the tax demand arose had been set aside in appeal and the cases were remanded for fresh assessment. Until reassessment, no enforceable demand survived on the basis of the set-aside assessments. The liability, at that stage, was only contingent and not a present dues liability under the Act. The prior Bench decision on the same principle was applied and the contrary objection that refund accrues only after annulment was rejected.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to refund of the tax paid against the set-aside assessments.

Final Conclusion: The refusal to refund could not be sustained, and the tax authorities were directed to return the amount in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: When an assessment is set aside and the matter is remanded for reassessment, the tax paid against that assessment is refundable because no present demand survives and the liability remains contingent until a fresh assessment is made.

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