Statutory trade tax forms cannot be withheld as coercive leverage for unrelated tax dues; genuine request must be assessed separately.

Issuance of Form IIIB and Form IIIC/1 under the U.P. Trade Tax Rules was required to be examined under Rule 12B and Rule 25B by considering whether the dealer's request for blank forms was genuine and reasonable. Refusal based on alleged non-payment of admitted tax was treated as an irrelevant ground, especially where the authorities had separate machinery to assess and recover tax dues. A provision concerning a different form under Rule 85(4) had no real bearing on the forms in question. The impugned refusal also failed to record any finding that the demand for forms was not genuine and reasonable, so the matter required fresh reconsideration.

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Issues: Whether refusal to issue Form IIIB and Form IIIC/1 under the U.P. Trade Tax Rules could be sustained on the ground of alleged non-payment of tax dues, and whether the impugned refusal order was vitiated by irrelevant considerations.

Analysis: The issue of issuance of the forms was governed by Rule 12B and Rule 25B of the U.P. Trade Tax Rules, 1948, under which the trade tax ality had to examine whether the dealer's demand for blank forms was genuine and reasonable. The refusal order rested essentially on alleged non-payment of admitted tax and the counter-affidavit also sought to justify the refusal on that basis, with reference to Rule 85(4), though that provision related to a different form and had no real bearing on the forms in question. The Court held that the tax authorities have a separate machinery for determination and recovery of tax dues and cannot use the issue of statutory forms as coercive leverage on unrelated grounds. The impugned order did not record any finding that the demand for forms was not genuine and reasonable.

Conclusion: The refusal to issue the forms could not be sustained because it was founded on irrelevant considerations, and the impugned order was liable to be set aside with reconsideration directed afresh.

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