Retrospective withdrawal of tax concession by errata is invalid; substantive change required statutory power and operates prospectively only.

A statutory notification granting concessional sales tax under section 17(1) has legal force, and withdrawal or variation of that concession had to be made under section 17(3), the enabling provision for cancellation or modification. An errata could correct clerical or typographical errors, but it could not be used to substantively remove medicines from the concessional list. Because the errata were issued after the relevant assessment year and section 17(3) did not authorise retrospective withdrawal, the concession already available to the assessee for 1989-90 could not be taken away.

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Issues: Whether errata issued to a notification granting concessional sales tax under section 17(1) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 could validly withdraw medicines from the concessional list and whether such withdrawal could operate retrospectively so as to the assessee for the assessment year 1989-90.

Analysis: A notification granting reduction in tax under section 17(1) has statutory force. If the Government intended to withdraw or vary the concession, it had to do so by exercising the power under section 17(3), which is the provision meant for cancelling or varying the earlier notification. An errata is meant to correct mistakes, such as typographical or spelling errors, and cannot be used as a substitute for a substantive withdrawal of concession. The two errata in question were issued after the relevant assessment year and were relied on to increase the tax burden by removing penicillin derivatives from the concessional entry. Since section 17(3) does not confer power to cancel or vary the notification with retrospective effect, the errata could not take away the concession already enjoyed by the assessee for the earlier period.

Conclusion: The errata were illegal insofar as they withdrew the assessee's concession and could not operate retrospectively against the assessment year 1989-90.

Final Conclusion: The assessee's entitlement to the concessional rate under the original notification remained unaffected until validly altered under the statutory power, and the challenge to the retrospective withdrawal succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory errata cannot be used to retrospectively withdraw a tax concession granted by notification; any cancellation or variation must be made under the enabling provision and, absent express retrospective power, can operate only prospectively.

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