Credit on excess sugar production treated as a factual issue, with reference to High Court rejected for consistency.

Whether credit linked to excess sugar production was an extra-legal concession or an arrangement governed by the Act was treated as a factual issue based on the Tribunal's appreciation of the order and a prior similar matter. The Tribunal also relied on the Revenue's earlier stand in the analogous case and the need for consistency on a matter of all-India significance. On that basis, it declined to accept the contrary contention in the reference application and rejected the request for reference to the High Court.

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Issues: Whether the reference application on the questions concerning the nature of the credit on excess sugar production and the Tribunal's power to deal with it called for a reference to the High Court.

Analysis: The questions turned on whether the credit granted for excess production of sugar was an extra-legal concession or an arrangement governed by the Act. The matter was treated as essentially one of fact for determination on the Tribunal's appreciation of the order and the earlier view taken in a similar matter. In view of the Revenue's earlier stand in the analogous case and the need for consistency on an issue of all-India import, the Tribunal declined to accept the contrary contention advanced in the present reference application.

Conclusion: The reference application was rejected.

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