Automatic interest on delayed sales tax applies even after revised return, where payment follows the due date.

Interest under the amended section 24(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 attaches automatically to tax remaining unpaid after the due date, even if the liability is later disclosed in a revised return. The assessee's corrected turnover was declared only after the prescribed date, so the tax became payable on that date and was paid later. Rule 18(4) did not displace the levy because it applies only where the assessing authority proceeds on best judgment or provisional assessment; a voluntary correction by the assessee after the due date does not attract that exception. The interest demand was therefore upheld.

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Issues: Whether interest under section 24(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 was payable on delayed remittance of tax disclosed in a revised return by a rule 18 assessee, and whether rule 18(4) displaced the levy.

Analysis: The liability under section 24(3), as amended, attaches to any amount remaining unpaid after the prescribed date and is not confined to a completed assessment. The assessee had filed the monthly return for December 1991 on the due date, but the return incorrectly reflected the turnover of another month, and the correct turnover was disclosed only in the revised return filed about thirty days later. The tax attributable to the actual December 1991 turnover had therefore become payable on 20 January 1992 and was paid only on 19 February 1992. Rule 18(4) was inapplicable because there had been no detection by the assessing authority requiring best judgment or provisional assessment; the deficiency was voluntarily corrected by the assessee after the due date. The amended statutory scheme made interest automatic on unpaid tax beyond the due date.

Conclusion: Interest under section 24(3) was correctly levied, and the challenge to the demand failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Under the amended section 24(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, interest is automatically attracted on tax remaining unpaid after the due date, even where the unpaid amount is later disclosed through a revised return, and rule 18(4) applies only where the assessing authority resorts to best judgment or provisional assessment.

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