Statutory refund provisions control withholding of sales tax refunds; absent specified conditions, the refund claim must be processed.

Refund under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act must be processed through the statutory mechanism, and withholding is permitted only in the limited circumstances expressly set out in section 33-C, such as a pending proceeding under the Act or a risk of adverse revenue impact with the required approval. Where those conditions are absent, the assessing authority cannot retain the refund merely because review orders from the Commercial Tax Commissioner are awaited. The refund application must instead be considered and disposed of under the Act, including the enquiry contemplated by section 33-BB.

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Issues: Whether the assessing authority was justified in withholding refund of tax and whether the petitioner was entitled to consideration of its refund application under the statutory refund provisions.

Analysis: Section 33-B of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 deals with refund, while section 33-C permits withholding of refund only in specified circumstances, namely when another proceeding under the Act is pending or when grant of refund is likely to adversely affect the revenue, and then only with the requisite approval. On the facts, none of those statutory conditions existed. The reason that review orders were awaited from the Commissioner of Commercial Tax was held to be irrelevant, particularly since no proceeding under section 20 had been initiated by the Commissioner. The petitioner's refund application therefore had to be considered and disposed of under the statutory mechanism, including the enquiry contemplated under section 33-BB.

Conclusion: The withholding of refund was unjustified and the petitioner was entitled to have its refund claim considered in accordance with the Act.

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