Appellate remedy under amended entry tax law applies when orders are passed after the amendment takes effect.

The Entry Tax Act originally allowed only a first appeal, but the amending Act No. 22 of 1977 substituted that scheme by making section 38 of the Sales Tax Act applicable and introducing a second appellate remedy while omitting section 15. Because the assessment order and first appellate order were both passed after the amendment came into force on 1 May 1977, the amended appellate procedure governed maintainability. The governing principle was that no vested right to finality arises merely from the institution of proceedings; the applicable remedy depends on the law in force when the order under challenge is made. The second appeal was therefore maintainable.

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Issues: Whether a second appeal was maintainable under the entry tax law for an assessment relating to a period before the amending Act came into force.

Analysis: The Entry Tax Act originally provided only a first appeal under section 15. By the amending Act No. 22 of 1977, section 13 was amended so that section 38 of the Sales Tax Act became applicable to proceedings under the Entry Tax Act, thereby introducing the second appellate remedy, and section 15 was omitted. The amendment came into force on 1 May 1977. The assessment order and the first appellate order in the present case were both passed after the amendment had come into force. The governing principle was that a litigant does not acquire a vested right to the finality of an order until the order is actually made, and where the assessment and appellate orders are passed after the amended law has commenced, the appellate remedy available under the amended law applies.

Conclusion: The second appeal was maintainable, and the Tribunal was not justified in holding that no second appeal lay for the period under assessment. The question was answered in the negative in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: The right to appellate finality is not a vested right accruing on institution of proceedings, and where the order under challenge is made after the commencement of the amending law, the amended appellate remedy governs maintainability.

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