Refund follows invalid reassessment: tax collected under time-barred proceedings is recoverable without an express refund direction.

A reassessment declared barred by limitation under section 153(2A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 rendered the tax collected on that basis unlawful, so the amount was recoverable as money realised without authority of law. Refund followed as a consequential legal obligation once the reassessments were held invalid under the earlier reference under section 256(1), and an express refund direction in that reference was not required. On that basis, the assessee was entitled to return of the tax deposited under the time-barred reassessments.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to refund of tax paid pursuant to reassessments later held to be barred by limitation, even though the earlier reference decision did not expressly direct refund.

Analysis: The earlier reference under section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 had conclusively held that reassessments for the relevant assessment years were barred by limitation under section 153(2A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Once the reassessments were declared invalid, the tax collected on their basis was treated as having been realised without authority of law. Refund was therefore a necessary consequence of that declaration and did not depend upon an express direction in the reference judgment.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to refund of the tax deposited on the basis of the time-barred reassessments.

Final Conclusion: The petition succeeded and the Department was bound to return the tax collected under the invalid reassessments.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessment or reassessment is judicially declared invalid as barred by limitation, the tax collected on that basis is recoverable as money realised without authority of law and refund follows as a consequential legal obligation even without an express refund direction.

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