Belated Form C production can still secure concessional inter-State tax treatment and refund of excess levy.

Purchasing dealers who bore the burden of excess tax were treated as persons aggrieved and could invoke writ jurisdiction to challenge the assessment and seek refund. Form C was held not to be confined to filing with the return; its belated production during assessment was permissible because the requirement was directory, not mandatory, and substantive concessional treatment could not be denied on a technicality. As the dealers and the goods satisfied the statutory conditions and the declarations were produced before the assessing authority, the concessional rate applied and the excess tax collected without authority had to be refunded with interest.

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Issues: (i) whether the purchasing dealers had locus standi as persons aggrieved to challenge the assessment order and seek refund of excess tax; (ii) whether Form C had to be furnished only along with the return or could be produced belatedly during assessment; (iii) whether the petitioners were entitled to concessional rate of tax on inter-State purchase of HSD oil and consequential refund of tax collected in excess.

Issue (i): whether the purchasing dealers had locus standi as persons aggrieved to challenge the assessment order and seek refund of excess tax.

Analysis: The petitioners had borne the burden of tax collected at the higher rate through the selling dealer, and the impugned assessment directly affected their statutory entitlement to concessional taxation and refund. The availability of appellate remedies to a dealer did not exclude maintainability of a writ petition at the instance of the purchaser who suffered the civil consequence of the levy. The Court treated such purchasers as persons aggrieved for the purpose of Article 226.

Conclusion: The petitioners had locus standi to maintain the writ petitions.

Issue (ii): whether Form C had to be furnished only along with the return or could be produced belatedly during assessment.

Analysis: The scheme of the Central Sales Tax Act and Rule 12(7) of the Central Sales Tax Rules permits production of declaration forms at a later stage, and the requirement is directory rather than mandatory. The statutory object is to ensure that a dealer is not denied a substantive benefit on a technical ground. Once Form C is produced within assessment proceedings and the substantive conditions are satisfied, the concessional rate cannot be denied merely because the form was not filed with the return.

Conclusion: Form C could validly be accepted belatedly during assessment and the refusal to accept it on the ground of delay was unlawful.

Issue (iii): whether the petitioners were entitled to concessional rate of tax on inter-State purchase of HSD oil and consequential refund of tax collected in excess.

Analysis: The petitioners and the selling dealer were registered dealers, the goods were covered by the registration certificates, and the relevant Form C declarations were in fact produced before the assessing authority. The Court held that the petitioners had fulfilled the statutory requirements for concessional taxation under the Central Sales Tax Act. The State's insistence on revised returns by the selling dealer was treated as an impermissible technical obstacle, especially when the excess tax had already been collected and deposited with the State. The Court also relied on the statutory refund scheme and the principles that tax cannot be retained without authority of law and that the State must act reasonably.

Conclusion: The petitioners were entitled to the concessional rate of tax and to refund of the excess tax collected from them.

Final Conclusion: The assessment order was set aside to the extent that it rejected the relevant Form C declarations, and the State was directed to process and refund the excess tax with interest, thereby granting the petitioners the substantive fiscal relief claimed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the substantive conditions for concessional inter-State taxation are satisfied, belated production of Form C during assessment cannot be refused on a purely technical ground, and excess tax collected without authority must be refunded to the person who actually bore the burden of the levy.

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