Interim tax recovery relief must apply settled stay tests and give reasons before departing from a consistent earlier view.

An interim order affecting tax recovery was set aside because it was passed mechanically and without proper application of the settled tests for interim relief, namely prima facie case, balance of convenience and irreparable injury. The HC also noted that the Tribunal did not adequately address the assessee's plea that a similar issue had earlier been decided in its favour, and no cogent reasons were recorded for departing from that consistent view. The matter was remitted to the Tribunal for fresh and expeditious reconsideration, with recovery stayed in the meantime.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal's interim order granting only limited protection and ignoring the settled parameters for interim relief was liable to be interfered with, and whether the matter required reconsideration in the light of earlier decisions and consistency in the assessee's own case.

Analysis: The revision challenged an interim order in the second appeal. The order had enhanced protection only partly, without properly addressing the settled tests governing interim relief, namely prima facie case, balance of convenience, and irreparable injury. The impugned order also failed to deal adequately with the assessee's contention that a similar issue had earlier been decided in its favour, and no cogent reasons were recorded for departing from that approach. In these circumstances, the order was found to be mechanically passed and inconsistent with the required judicial approach.

Conclusion: The interim order was quashed and the second appeal was restored to the Tribunal for fresh decision.

Final Conclusion: The revision succeeded, the disputed interim protection order was set aside, and the Tribunal was directed to reconsider the appeal expeditiously while keeping recovery stayed in the meantime.

Ratio Decidendi: An interim order affecting tax recovery must be a reasoned order passed after applying the settled tests for interim relief and, where a consistent view exists in the assessee's own case, departure from that view must be supported by cogent reasons.

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