Interim stay of tax recovery may be granted where revisional or appellate jurisdiction is wide and no statutory bar exists.

Where a taxing statute confers revisional or appellate power in wide terms and does not expressly prohibit interim relief, the court may grant stay of recovery as an incidental and ancillary power necessary to make its jurisdiction effective. The Karnataka Sales Tax Act contained no prohibition against such relief; section 23(6) only prevented automatic suspension on filing revision, and did not bar a judicial stay. Section 13(3) and its proviso also contemplated interim orders in revision and abeyance of recovery until disposal. Accordingly, the High Court had power to stay recovery pending revision under section 23 or appeal under section 24.

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Issues: Whether the High Court has the power to grant interim stay of recovery of tax pending disposal of a revision petition under section 23(1) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, and an appeal under section 24 of that Act.

Analysis: The statutory scheme contained no express prohibition against grant of interim stay pending revision or appeal. The revisional power under section 23(4) is wide enough to permit the High Court to reverse, affirm, amend, remand, or pass such other order as it thinks fit. The power to hear and dispose of the proceeding effectively carries with it, by necessary implication, all incidental and ancillary powers needed to make the jurisdiction effective, unless expressly or by necessary implication prohibited by the statute. Section 23(6) merely provides that filing of a revision does not automatically suspend payment of tax and does not operate as a bar against a judicial order of stay. Section 13(3), particularly its proviso, also recognises that interim orders may be made in revision proceedings and that recovery may be kept in abeyance until disposal of the revision.

Conclusion: The High Court has the power to grant stay of recovery pending disposal of a revision under section 23 or an appeal under section 24 of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute confers revisional or appellate power in wide terms and does not expressly prohibit interim relief, the court may grant stay as an incidental and ancillary power necessary to make the substantive jurisdiction effective.

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