Instalment payment permission under sales tax law cannot be withdrawn by subordinate authority or executive instruction without statutory power.

A communication by the Deputy Commissioner permitting sales tax payment in instalments under section 16(2) was valid as an order once it contained the statutory essentials and was acted upon by the revenue authorities. That instalment facility created an enforceable right in the assessee, and it could not be ignored, varied, or withdrawn by the Commercial Tax Officer or under Government instructions because no statutory power existed to cancel it. A subsequent demand for immediate lump-sum recovery, issued without notice, was therefore without jurisdiction and illegal.

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Issues: Whether the communication issued by the Deputy Commissioner permitting payment of sales tax in instalments was an under section 16(2) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, and whether the Commercial Tax Officer or the Government could ignore or withdraw that facility and demand lump-sum payment without notice.

Analysis: Section 16(2) empowers the Deputy Commissioner to permit payment of tax in two or more instalments by general or special order, and the provision does not insist on any particular form or prior application by the assessee. A communication containing the essential ingredients of such permission, once acted upon by the revenue authorities, operates as an order under the statute and creates a right in the assessee to pay in instalments. That order could not be varied, ignored, or withdrawn by the Commercial Tax Officer on the basis of Government instructions, since the Government had no statutory power to cancel an instalment order under the Act. The attempted demand for immediate lump-sum recovery was also made without notice to the affected parties, which could not validly undo an order that had already conferred a statutory facility.

Conclusion: The communication was held to be a valid order under section 16(2), and the direction to recover the arrears in lump sum was held to be without jurisdiction and illegal.

Final Conclusion: The assessee's right to pay the assessed sales tax in instalments was upheld, and the revenue authorities were restrained from demanding immediate lump-sum recovery contrary to the subsisting instalment order.

Ratio Decidendi: An instalment permission granted by the competent authority under section 16(2), even if conveyed informally, is binding once acted upon and cannot be cancelled or disregarded by a subordinate authority or by executive instructions lacking statutory authority.

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