Pre-deposit application without prescribed limitation must be decided on merits, not rejected mechanically as time barred.

Where a taxing statute prescribes no limitation period for an application explaining non-deposit of assessed tax, penalty or interest, the appellate authority must consider the cause shown on merits and record reasons in writing. The authority may entertain the appeal and, if justified, stay recovery of the balance amount on appropriate terms, including security. A mechanical rejection of the application as time barred, without examining the sufficiency of the explanation, amounts to failure to exercise the jurisdiction conferred by section 39(5) of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973. The Tribunal's order was therefore unsustainable and required fresh consideration on merits.

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Issues: Whether an application showing cause for non-payment of tax, penalty or interest under section 39(5) of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 could be rejected as time barred and without recording reasons, and whether the appellate authority was required to consider such application on merits before dismissing the appeal.

Analysis: Section 39(5) does not prescribe any specific period of limitation for filing an application explaining non-deposit of the assessed amount. Such a request may be made with the appeal, separately, or even at the stage when the appeal is taken up for consideration. The appellate authority's satisfaction under the provision has to be judicial satisfaction based on the material before it, and it may entertain the appeal and, if justified, stay recovery of the balance amount on recording reasons in writing and on terms relating to security. Since the Tribunal dismissed the application only on limitation and did not examine the merits of the cause shown, it failed to exercise the jurisdiction vested in it under the provision.

Conclusion: The dismissal of the application could not be sustained, and the order of the Tribunal was liable to be quashed and the matter sent back for fresh consideration on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a pre-deposit related application under a taxing statute prescribes no limitation period, the appellate authority must decide the sufficiency of the cause shown on merits and by a reasoned order, rather than rejecting it mechanically as time barred.

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