Estate duty interest requires a section 70 order; without it, the demand and recovery proceedings fail.

Interest on outstanding estate duty was treated as not arising automatically under the Estate Duty Act, 1953; absent a timely order under section 70, no enforceable liability to interest was found merely because duty remained unpaid. The accountable persons were also entitled to relief under section 50 for probate duty paid, and after that credit the payments made had already exceeded the duty actually payable. On those facts, the claimed interest could not be sustained, and the demand and recovery proceedings founded on it were quashed.

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Issues: Whether interest on outstanding estate duty could be levied in the absence of a timely order under section 70 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, and whether the resulting demand and recovery proceedings were valid.

Analysis: The estate duty was originally assessed, but the accountable persons were entitled to relief under section 50 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 on account of probate duty paid. After giving credit for that relief, the payments made had already exceeded the duty actually payable. The Court accepted the view that interest under the Act did not run automatically and that, unless an order under section 70 was made, no enforceable liability to interest arose merely because the duty remained unpaid. On the facts, the alleged interest claim was not sustainable, and the demand and recovery steps founded on that claim could not stand.

Conclusion: The interest demand was invalid and the impugned demand and recovery proceedings were rightly quashed.

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