Revisional power is not appellate power: cross-objections cannot expand a department's revision absent express statutory provision.

Section 14(1) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act was confined to the scope of the department's revision and could not be treated as an appellate power. The phrase "such order as it thinks fit" was read as permitting only orders within the bounds of the revision filed by the department, especially since the statute made separate provision for the assessee's revision under section 14(2) and contained no express right of cross-objection or suo motu reopening. The assessee's cross-objection was therefore not maintainable, and relief could not be granted in its favour beyond the departmental revision.

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Issues: Whether, in a revision filed by the department under section 14(1) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, the Board of Revenue could entertain a cross-objection by the assessee and grant relief to the assessee who had not availed the separate revisional remedy under section 14(2).

Analysis: The revisional power under section 14(1) was held to be confined to the scope of the department's revision. The expression "such order as it thinks fit" was construed as authorising only such order as may be passed within the bounds of the revision moved by the department. The absence of any provision for cross-objection or suo motu revision, together with the existence of a separate revision right for the assessee under section 14(2), indicated that section 14(1) was not an appellate power enabling reopening of the entire matter. The later amendment providing for appeal and cross-objections also supported the restricted scope of the earlier revisional provision.

Conclusion: The cross-objection filed by the assessee in the department's revision was not maintainable for obtaining relief beyond the scope of the department's revision, and the Board of Revenue could not set aside the penalty in the assessee's favour on that basis.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order of the Division Bench of the Board of Revenue was set aside and the order of the Single Bench was restored, with the departmental challenge succeeding.

Ratio Decidendi: A revisional power confined by the language and scheme of the statute cannot be expanded into an appellate power, and in the absence of an express provision, a cross-objection cannot be entertained in revision to grant relief to a party who has not pursued the separate statutory revisional remedy.

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