Vested right of appeal for unregistered dealers follows the pre-assessment notice date, so amended pre-deposit applied.

For an unregistered dealer, assessment proceedings commence only on issuance of the pre-assessment notice, not during prior inspection or collection of materials. The right of appeal is a vested right that is governed by the pre-deposit law in force when such proceedings commence. Because the pre-assessment notice in this matter was issued after the amendment enhancing the pre-deposit requirement from 12.5 per cent to 25 per cent, the amended condition applied. The challenge to the insistence on payment of 25 per cent of the disputed tax therefore failed, and the appellate authority's pre-deposit requirement was left undisturbed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the amended pre-deposit requirement under section 31A of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 applied to an unregistered dealer where the pre-assessment notice was issued after the amendment, so as to require payment of 25 per cent of the disputed tax before the appeal could be entertained.

Analysis: The right of appeal was held to be a vested right that accrues when assessment proceedings commence. For a registered dealer, that commencement is linked to the filing of the return; for an unregistered dealer, the assessment proceedings begin with the issuance of the pre-assessment notice. Inspection or collection of materials before notice is only a preliminary enquiry and does not start the lis. Since the pre-assessment notice in the present case was issued after the amendment enhancing the pre-deposit from 12.5 per cent to 25 per cent, the amended provision governed the appeal.

Conclusion: The petitioner was bound to comply with the amended pre-deposit condition, and the challenge to insistence on payment of 25 per cent of the disputed tax failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable on merits and the dismissal left the appellate authority's insistence on pre-deposit intact.

Ratio Decidendi: For an unregistered dealer, assessment proceedings commence only upon issuance of the pre-assessment notice, and the appellate right is governed by the pre-deposit law in force on that date.

---