Refund interest entitlement survives later fresh assessment where the refund voucher was wrongly withheld after assessment.

Where a refund became due under the Haryana General Sales Tax Rules, 1975 but the refund voucher was not issued with the assessment order, interest was payable for the period the amount was wrongly withheld. The assessment order fixed the refundable amount as due, and a later revisional order setting the assessment aside for fresh assessment did not extinguish the earlier liability or retrospectively defeat the dealer's entitlement to interest. A subsequent fresh assessment could not be used to deny interest for the intervening period. The department was directed to calculate the refund and issue the voucher.

---

---

Issues: Whether the dealer was entitled to interest on the refundable amount when the refund voucher was not issued along with the assessment order and the assessment was later set aside for fresh assessment.

Analysis: Rule 35 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Rules, 1975 required the refund voucher to be sent with the assessment order. The refundable amount became due on the date of the assessment order, and the later revisional order setting aside the assessment did not erase the liability already incurred for the intervening period. A subsequent order could not create a demand or deprive the dealer of interest by giving retrospective effect to the fresh assessment. The earlier decision on identical facts was followed.

Conclusion: The dealer was entitled to interest on the refund amount for the period during which the refund was withheld, and the department was directed to calculate and issue the refund voucher.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a refund becomes due under the governing rules but is not issued with the assessment order, interest is payable for the period of wrongful withholding, and a later order for fresh assessment cannot retrospectively defeat that entitlement.

---