Rectification for apparent tax mistake upheld where the wrong rate on sodium silicate was a patent error, not a debatable issue.

Section 22 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act permits rectification only of a mistake apparent on the face of the record, not of a debatable error requiring detailed inquiry. The assessment orders had applied a lower rate to sodium silicate without examining the applicable rate, and the settled legal position treated sodium silicate as falling within the taxable category from the inception of the notification. On that basis, the error was held to be patent and amenable to rectification, so the notices issued under section 22 were valid and the challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the Sales Tax Officer could validly invoke section 22 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act to rectify the rate of tax applied to sodium silicate on the ground that the earlier assessment contained a mistake apparent on the face of the record.

Analysis: Section 22 permits rectification only of a mistake apparent on the face of the record and not of an error that is debatable or requires detailed inquiry. The assessment orders showed no discussion on the rate applicable to sodium silicate, and the incorrect rate had been accepted without examination. The prevailing judicial declaration that sodium silicate fell within the taxable category made the correct rate evident, and such legal position was treated as operating from the inception of the notification. The error in applying the lower rate was therefore not a matter of opinion or prolonged debate, but a patent mistake liable to rectification.

Conclusion: The notices issued under section 22 were held to be valid, and the challenge to them failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was dismissed because the rate applied in the original assessment was a rectifiable mistake apparent on the face of the record, not an error outside the scope of section 22.

Ratio Decidendi: A patent mistake in the application of tax rate, where the correct legal position is already settled and no detailed reappraisal of facts or law is required, can be rectified as a mistake apparent on the face of the record under the rectification provision.

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