Tax liability cannot be discharged by extra-statutory settlement when the Act permits only limited remission powers.

An individual partner remained jointly and severally liable for the firm's sales tax dues because the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 and the Rules conferred only a limited power of remission on the Commissioner, subject to prescribed conditions and, where applicable, prior State sanction. The Court held that no settlement with an individual partner could extinguish statutory liability, since taxing statutes cannot be expanded by equity or implication. The alleged extra-statutory arrangement therefore had no legal basis, and the partner's liability for the firm's dues continued to be enforceable.

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Issues: Whether an individual partner could be discharged from liability for the firm's sales tax dues on the basis of an alleged settlement with the State Government and the Commissioner under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959.

Analysis: Section 18 of the Act made the partners jointly and severally liable for the firm's tax dues. Section 45 empowered only the Commissioner to remit tax payable by a dealer, and only in the circumstances and subject to the conditions prescribed under the Rules, with previous sanction of the State Government where the remitted amount exceeded the prescribed limit. The Rules contained provisions for remission in specified situations, but they did not authorize any settlement with an individual partner so as to extinguish his statutory liability. In taxing statutes, nothing can be read in by equity or implication, and the power of remission could not be expanded beyond the statute and the Rules.

Conclusion: The alleged settlement had no statutory basis and did not absolve the appellant from liability; the challenge failed and the decision below was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was rejected because the statutory scheme did not permit a partner's tax liability to be settled or discharged by an extra-statutory arrangement, and the firm's dues remained enforceable against the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: In a taxing statute, liability can be altered or extinguished only by an express statutory power, and where the Act and Rules provide only limited remission authority, an alleged settlement outside that framework cannot discharge a jointly and severally liable partner.

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