Protest payments can count toward mandatory appeal pre-deposit when the statute does not exclude them expressly.

Amounts deposited under protest before the assessment order could be adjusted towards the mandatory pre-deposit for an appeal under Section 26(6A) of the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act 2002. The provision required proof of payment of the specified aggregate sums with the appeal, including the prescribed percentage of the disputed tax, and it did not expressly exclude earlier protest payments from that computation. Applying the plain language of the statute and strict construction of taxing provisions, the earlier payment could not be ignored. The protest payment was therefore available for adjustment against the pre-deposit, and rejection of the appeal was unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether amounts deposited under protest before an assessment order could be adjusted towards the mandatory pre-deposit required for filing an appeal under Section 26(6A) of the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act 2002.

Analysis: The provision required proof of payment of the specified aggregate amounts along with the appeal. Clauses (b) and (c) spoke of an amount equal to ten per cent of the tax disputed by the appellant. The statute did not state that the pre-deposit had to be computed without taking account of amounts already paid under protest. Applying the plain language of the provision and the rule that a taxing statute must be construed strictly, the earlier protest payment could not be excluded from consideration in the absence of express legislative language to that effect.

Conclusion: The protest payment was entitled to be adjusted towards the statutory pre-deposit, and the rejection of the appeal was not sustainable.

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