Suo motu revisional power under sales tax law does not create a right of revision for the assessee.

Section 20 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act confers only suo motu revisional power on the Commissioner and does not create a right in an assessee to file a revision petition. An application by an aggrieved assessee may still supply material for the Commissioner to consider whether to invoke that power on his own motion, and the filing of such an application does not take away or limit the revisional jurisdiction. The separate point about the Tribunal directing exercise of revision was not previously raised or decided, so no further question of law arose on that aspect.

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Issues: Whether, under section 20(1) and section 20(2) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, the Commissioner could exercise suo motu revisional power on the basis of an application made by an assessee, and whether the Tribunal could direct exercise of that revisional jurisdiction.

Analysis: Section 20 conferred on the Commissioner a suo motu power to call for and examine the record of any order or proceeding of a subordinate authority. The provision did not create any right in an aggrieved party to maintain a revision petition, but an application by such party could still supply the material on which the Commissioner might consider whether to act suo motu. The filing of an application did not divest the Commissioner of his revisional power, nor did it prevent him from considering the request and deciding whether to call for records. The separate contention regarding the Tribunal's power to direct exercise of revisional jurisdiction had not been raised or decided earlier.

Conclusion: An assessee had no right to file a revision petition under section 20, but the Commissioner could act suo motu on the basis of information contained in such an application. The revisional power remained intact, and no question of law arose warranting interference.

Ratio Decidendi: A statute conferring only suo motu revisional power does not create a corresponding right of revision in an aggrieved party, yet an application by that party may furnish material for the authority to decide whether to invoke that power on its own motion.

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