Authorised agent may sign reference application where tax law permits representation; absence of personal signature is only a curable defect.

Where the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 and the applicable rules permit an assessee to act through an authorised legal practitioner or other recognised agent, a reference application signed and filed by that authorised agent is valid even if the assessee did not sign personally. The provision requiring an application in writing by the person affected was read with the representation rules and tribunal regulations, which allowed filing through an appointed agent. Any absence of the assessee's signature was treated as a technical defect capable of being cured and not a ground to reject the reference at the threshold.

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Issues: Whether a reference application under Section 61 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, signed and filed by the assessee's legal practitioner as an authorised agent, was valid despite the objection that it was not signed personally by the assessee.

Analysis: Section 61 permits an application in writing by the person affected by the order. Section 71 of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, read with Rule 66A and Rule 67 of the Bombay Sales Tax Rules, 1959, recognises appearance and action through an authorised relative, employee, legal practitioner, chartered accountant, cost accountant, or sales tax practitioner. Regulation 7(4)(a) of the Maharashtra Sales Tax Tribunal Regulations also contemplates a reference application being signed by the applicant or by the appointed agent. The legal practitioner had already been authorised and had filed the vakalatnama, so the signature by the agent was within the permitted procedure. Even if the assessee's signature was thought necessary, the defect was purely technical and could have been cured instead of rejecting the reference at the threshold.

Conclusion: The reference application was validly filed through the authorised legal practitioner and could not be rejected on the ground that it was not personally signed by the assessee. The objection was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute and rules permit representation and action through an authorised agent, a reference application signed by such agent is not invalid for want of the assessee's personal signature, and a curable technical defect should not be used to non-suit the applicant.

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