Delayed tax refund attracts automatic interest after six months, with no separate refund claim required under the sales tax statute.

Where a refund becomes due under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act pursuant to an appellate or revisional order, the assessing authority must grant the refund without requiring a separate claim. If the refund is not paid within six months from the date of that order, the State becomes liable to pay simple interest at the prescribed rate on the delayed amount. The six-month period runs from the date of the refund order itself, including where the order is passed by the High Court. The same principle applies to connected assessment years where refund orders were earlier made but interest remained unpaid, excluding the statutory six-month period.

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Issues: Whether interest was payable on delayed refund under sections 33-B and 33-F of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 from the expiry of six months after the order directing refund till the date of actual refund, without any separate claim for refund.

Analysis: Section 33-B provides that where refund becomes due as a result of any order passed in appeal or other proceedings under the Act, the assessing or licensing authority shall refund the amount without requiring the assessee to make any claim. Section 33-F makes the State liable to pay simple interest at the prescribed rate if the refund is not granted within six months from the date of such order. Since the order in the tax revision case was passed by the High Court, the six-month period ran from that date, and the refund ought to have been made before expiry of that period. The same principle applied to the connected assessment years where refund orders had been passed earlier and interest had not been paid.

Conclusion: The petitioner was entitled to interest on the delayed refund from the expiry of six months after the refund order until the date of actual payment, and also in the connected matters for the corresponding periods, excluding the six-month statutory period.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the respondents were required to compute and pay the interest due on the delayed refund.

Ratio Decidendi: Where refund becomes due pursuant to an order under the sales tax statute, interest follows automatically after the statutory six-month period, and no separate refund claim is required.

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