Statutory committee jurisdiction: a petition rejected by one member alone was held without authority and remitted for reconsideration.

Section 16D of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act required petitions to be examined by the Special Committee constituted under the statute, including scrutiny of whether the assessment offended the Act, the Rules or natural justice. A rejection made by the Commissioner alone, without decision by the competent committee, was contrary to the statutory mandate and therefore without jurisdiction. The rejection order was vitiated and set aside, and the matter was remitted for fresh consideration by the proper committee with liberty to the parties to raise all contentions.

---

---

Issues: Whether the rejection of the petition under section 16D of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 by the Commissioner alone was without jurisdiction.

Analysis: Section 16D contemplates consideration of such petitions by the Special Committee constituted under the Act. The record showed that the impugned rejection was made by the Commissioner alone, although the statutory framework required the committee to examine whether the assessment order was passed in violation of the Act, the Rules, or the principles of natural justice. In the absence of decision by the committee as constituted under the statute, the single-member action was not in accordance with the statutory mandate.

Conclusion: The rejection order was vitiated for want of jurisdiction and was liable to be set aside.

Final Conclusion: The matters were sent back for fresh consideration by the competent committee, with liberty to the parties to raise all contentions before it.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute requires a multi-member committee to decide a matter, an order passed by one member alone is without jurisdiction and cannot be sustained.

---