Mandatory prior sanction and limitation govern electricity duty review orders; absent both, the penalty orders fail and consequential orders fall.

Penalty orders framed as review proceedings under the Bihar Electricity Duty Act were invalid because the statutory preconditions were not met: the Commissioner's prior written sanction was absent and the proceedings were initiated and concluded beyond the prescribed one-year limitation. The court rejected the attempt to characterise the orders as independent penalty orders, holding that their own terms showed they were review orders, and their legal nature could not be changed by later argument. As the foundational review orders were void, the connected revisional and tribunal orders also failed, and the assessees were entitled to restoration or adjustment of amounts recovered.

---

---

Issues: Whether the penalty orders for delayed payment of electricity duty, passed after the assessment orders, were valid in the absence of the Commissioner's previous written sanction and after expiry of the prescribed period of review limitation.

Analysis: The penalty orders were found to have been made in the guise of review. The statutory scheme under Section 9-A of the Bihar Electricity Duty Act and Rule 14 of the Bihar Electricity Duty Rules required that any review by an authority other than the Commissioner be supported by the Commissioner's previous sanction in writing and be initiated within the prescribed outer limit. The record showed that the review proceedings had been started on audit objection, but the requisite sanction was never granted and the orders were passed beyond the one-year limit. The contention that the orders were independent penalty orders under Section 5-A(2) was rejected because the orders themselves disclosed their character as review orders, and their nature could not be altered by later submissions.

Conclusion: The penalty orders were invalid and could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The connected revisional and tribunal orders also failed, and the assessees were entitled to restoration of the amounts recovered or their adjustment in future electricity duty bills.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory review order is made without the mandatory prior sanction and beyond the prescribed limitation, it is void and any consequential appellate or revisional orders must also fall.

---