Delayed tax refund after appellate relief attracts statutory interest when payment is not made within the prescribed 90-day period.

Refund arising from an appellate order must be made within 90 days under section 24(4) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, and interest follows from the 91st day if payment is delayed. Section 39A, which requires consequential amendment after appellate or revisional orders, contains no express time-limit, but it cannot be read to permit indefinite delay in giving effect to the refund. Read with rule 32(2), the scheme requires the assessing authority to act within the prescribed period. As the refund was not given effect within 90 days, statutory interest at 12 per cent per annum was payable.

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Issues: Whether interest was payable on refund amounts consequent to appellate orders when the giving effect orders under section 39A of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 were passed beyond 90 days.

Analysis: Section 39A of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 requires consequential amendment of assessment after appellate or revisional orders, but it does not prescribe a time-limit for passing the giving effect order. Section 24(4) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 provides that where excess tax is refundable pursuant to an appellate, revisional or review order, the refund must be made within 90 days from receipt of the order, failing which interest at the statutory rate becomes payable from the 91st day. Rule 32(2) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Rules, 1959 supports this scheme by requiring the assessing authority to give effect to the appellate order within the prescribed time and issue refund without interest only if done within that period. The provisions were read together to hold that the absence of an express time-limit in section 39A does not permit indefinite delay in granting refund effect.

Conclusion: Interest was payable on the delayed refund, and the assessee was entitled to interest at 12 per cent per annum from the expiry of the 90-day period after receipt of the appellate orders.

Ratio Decidendi: Where refund consequent on an appellate order is not given effect within 90 days, statutory interest under section 24(4) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 becomes payable notwithstanding that section 39A contains no express time-limit for passing the consequential order.

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