Interest on sales tax refunds depends on valid appellate relief and starts only after the statutory six-month period.

Interest on sales tax refunds is payable under section 33F where the refund arises from an appellate or other valid proceeding under section 33B, and the assessee need not file a separate refund claim. The statutory interest period begins only after six months from the date of the appellate order and runs until actual payment. Section 33E applies only to delays in processing claims under section 33A and does not govern refunds under section 33B. By contrast, refund orders made in purported revisional proceedings after the amendment limiting revision to orders prejudicial to revenue were without jurisdiction, so they could not trigger the sections 33B and 33F interest regime.

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Issues: (i) Whether interest on refunded sales tax was payable under section 33B read with section 33F of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 when refund followed an appellate order; (ii) Whether interest could be granted where refund had been ordered by revisional authorities under section 20 of the Act after the amendment restricting revision to orders prejudicial to revenue.

Issue (i): Whether interest on refunded sales tax was payable under section 33B read with section 33F of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 when refund followed an appellate order.

Analysis: Refund consequent upon an order passed in appeal or other proceeding under the Act falls within section 33B, under which the assessee is entitled to refund without making a separate claim. Section 33F governs interest on such refund and makes interest payable if the refund is not granted within six months from the date of the appellate order. Section 33E applies only where the assessing authority delays refund on a claim under section 33A and has no application to refunds arising under section 33B. The absence of a separate claim for refund does not defeat the statutory right to interest, and principles of res judicata or estoppel do not bar such claim.

Conclusion: Interest was payable, but only from the expiry of six months from the date of the appellate order granting refund until the date the refund was actually made. This was in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether interest could be granted where refund had been ordered by revisional authorities under section 20 of the Act after the amendment restricting revision to orders prejudicial to revenue.

Analysis: The revisional jurisdiction invoked in these matters was not available after the amendment that confined revision to orders prejudicial to the interests of revenue. Orders passed by revisional authorities granting refund in favour of the assessee were therefore without jurisdiction. Proceedings so initiated could not be treated as proceedings under the Act for the purposes of sections 33B and 33F.

Conclusion: The assessees in those matters were not entitled to interest on the refund. This was in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The Tribunal's view was upheld only for refunds arising from valid appellate orders, with interest confined to the statutory period under section 33F, while the claims resting on jurisdictionally invalid revisional orders were rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Interest on refund is payable only where the refund arises from an order in appeal or other valid proceeding under the Act and only after the statutory six-month period; a jurisdictionally invalid revisional order cannot trigger the interest regime under sections 33B and 33F.

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