Taxability of opium and mandatory statutory interest under trade tax law were upheld on settled precedent.

Opium grown by cultivators for the Narcotics Department was treated as liable to trade tax because an earlier Supreme Court ruling on the same statutory arrangement was applied as conclusive, rejecting the argument that no taxable sale or purchase existed. Interest under Section 8(1) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 was treated as mandatory once tax was due and unpaid, so waiver was not available. The revisions challenging taxability and waiver of interest were dismissed, while the department's revisions on taxability succeeded.

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Issues: (i) Whether opium grown by cultivators on behalf of the Narcotics Department was liable to trade tax. (ii) Whether interest under Section 8(1) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 was mandatory and not waivable.

Issue (i): Whether opium grown by cultivators on behalf of the Narcotics Department was liable to trade tax.

Analysis: The revisions on this question turned on the effect of the earlier Supreme Court decision holding that opium grown and supplied under the statutory arrangement constituted a taxable item. The Court treated that decision as conclusive and applied it to the revisions before it, thereby rejecting the contention that there was no sale or purchase liable to tax.

Conclusion: The opium was held liable to trade tax, and the revisions challenging taxability were dismissed.

Issue (ii): Whether interest under Section 8(1) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 was mandatory and not waivable.

Analysis: Section 8(1) was treated as a mandatory provision because the text uses imperative language and makes interest payable on the unpaid tax from the prescribed date. The Court also relied on settled authority that, once tax is admittedly payable and not paid within time, interest follows as a statutory consequence and the Court has no power to waive it.

Conclusion: Interest under Section 8(1) was held mandatory and the revisions seeking waiver of interest were dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The assessee's revisions failed, while the department's revisions on taxability were allowed, resulting in a partial success for both sides on different batches of revisions.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Supreme Court has already held that the underlying transaction is taxable, that conclusion governs subsequent connected revisions, and statutory interest on admittedly payable tax is mandatory once the tax falls due.

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