Refund of excess tax cannot be denied for lack of prescribed procedure when dealer proves repayment to purchasers.

Excess tax collected by a dealer cannot be forfeited to the State merely because a refund procedure was not yet prescribed, where the dealer has refunded the amount to the purchaser and the claim is capable of verification by the tax authority. Applying earlier decisions on the same statutory scheme, the Court held that the absence of a framed refund mechanism did not justify retention of the amount by the revenue. The Tribunal's direction to refund the tax realised on discount was upheld in principle, and the revisions were rejected.

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Issues: Whether the Trade Tax Tribunal was justified in directing refund of tax realised on discount, and whether such amount could be forfeited under Section 29-A of the U.P. Trade Tax Act in the absence of a prescribed refund procedure.

Analysis: The revisions were held to be covered by earlier decisions of the Court which had considered the same statutory scheme. The controlling principle applied was that excess tax realised by a dealer is not to be treated as forfeited to the State merely because the dealer has refunded it to the customer, and the absence of a prescribed procedure for refund under the relevant rule-making framework did not justify retention of the amount by the State. The Court followed the earlier view that, where the dealer substantiates refund to the customers from whom the excess tax was collected, the authorities must verify the claim and cannot deny relief only on the ground that the procedure was not framed until later.

Conclusion: The Tribunal's direction to refund the amount was upheld in principle, and the revisions were rejected.

Final Conclusion: The revisions failed, and the orders under challenge were left undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: Excess tax collected by a dealer cannot be forfeited to the State merely for want of a prescribed refund procedure if the dealer has refunded the amount to the purchaser and the claim is capable of verification by the tax authority.

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