Form 32B was not required for the relevant refund period, so refund relief could not be denied on that basis.

Form 32B was not a statutory requirement for refund claims relating to the accounting period 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001, because that obligation was introduced only later and did not form part of the governing scheme for that period. A taxpayer could not be denied refund relief on that basis. The Tribunal was therefore right to delete the first appellate authority's insistence on Form 32B, while preserving the requirement to verify actual payment of tax under the Karnataka Sales Tax Act.

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Issues: Whether the requirement of filing Form 32B applied to a refund claim relating to the accounting period April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001, and whether the Tribunal was justified in deleting the first appellate authority's observation to that effect.

Analysis: The refund claim arose from purchases of declared goods on which local sales tax had been paid and which were later sold in inter-State trade. The Tribunal found that the requirement of filing Form 32B was introduced only later and was not part of the statutory scheme governing the relevant accounting period. As the obligation did not exist for the period in question, the assessee could not be denied relief on that basis. The Tribunal therefore held that the first appellate authority's insistence on Form 32B was unwarranted, while leaving intact the requirement of verification of actual payment of tax under the Karnataka Sales Tax Act.

Conclusion: The Tribunal was correct in holding that Form 32B was not a statutory requirement for the relevant accounting period, and the revision challenging that view failed.

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