Statutory tax agreement cannot be reopened for an alleged mistake unless the Act expressly authorises revision.

A statutory entertainment tax authority cannot reopen or enforce a fresh demand on the basis of an alleged error in an agreed weekly tax unless the Act expressly permits revision on that ground. The assessee had opted for tax payment under the statutory agreement scheme, and the only permitted revision arose under section 5(3)(b) of the Andhra Pradesh Entertainments Tax Act, 1939. Because the demand was triggered instead by an audit objection and not by the statutory contingency, the Court found the demand without jurisdiction. Any separate claim based on mistake or fraud had to be pursued in ordinary civil proceedings, not through administrative recovery.

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Issues: Whether the demand raised by the entertainment tax on the basis of an alleged error in the agreed weekly tax was valid and within jurisdiction.

Analysis: The assessee had opted to pay entertainment tax under the statutory scheme permitting payment by agreement in lieu of tax otherwise payable. The governing provision allowed revision of such agreement only in the contingency expressly provided by section 5(3)(b) of the Andhra Pradesh Entertainments Tax Act, 1939. The demand was not founded on that contingency but on a later audit objection that the original agreement had been entered into incorrectly. The Court held that a statutory authority can act only within powers expressly conferred by the statute and cannot unilaterally reopen or enforce a fresh demand merely because an audit report points out an alleged mistake. Any independent claim based on mistake or fraud had to be pursued in ordinary civil proceedings, not by administrative demand.

Conclusion: The impugned demand was without jurisdiction and was quashed in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded because the statutory mechanism did not permit reassessment or recovery outside the narrow revision ground provided by the Act.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory tax authority cannot raise or enforce a fresh demand on the basis of an alleged mistake in a tax agreement unless the statute expressly authorises revision on that ground.

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