Refund and reimbursement claims under VAT law cannot be defeated by silence in assessment orders, delay, or lack of review power.

Under the Assam Value Added Tax Act and the Central Sales Tax Act, a reimbursement claim for local tax on declared goods could not be treated as rejected merely because the original assessment orders were silent on it. The Court stated that, in the absence of any statutory review power, the Commissioner could not reopen or undo a conscious earlier recommendation for reimbursement, and any challenge to an allegedly invalid re-assessment had to be pursued by appeal under the Act. It further held that a claim for reimbursement of VAT on raw petroleum coke, after inter-State sale of calcined petroleum coke with CST paid, was not barred by delay, laches or acquiescence where there had been no express rejection of the claim.

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Issues: (i) whether the impugned rejection of the reimbursement proposals could be sustained on the grounds that the earlier assessment orders had attained finality, the re-assessment orders were without jurisdiction, and the Commissioner could effectively reopen the matter without statutory review power; (ii) whether the petitioner's claim for reimbursement of VAT paid on raw petroleum coke, after inter-State sale of calcined petroleum coke with CST paid thereon, was barred by delay, laches or acquiescence.

Issue (i): whether the impugned rejection of the reimbursement proposals could be sustained on the grounds that the earlier assessment orders had attained finality, the re-assessment orders were without jurisdiction, and the Commissioner could effectively reopen the matter without statutory review power.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under Section 50 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 read with Rule 29 of the Assam Value Added Tax Rules, 2005 contemplated processing of refund claims arising from tax paid in excess, while Section 15(b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 mandated reimbursement of local tax where declared goods were later sold in inter-State trade and CST was paid. The Court held that mere silence in the original assessment orders on the reimbursement claim could not amount to rejection of that claim. It further held that the Commissioner had no power of review in the absence of a statutory provision, and could not unsettle a conscious earlier decision of the predecessor Commissioner who had forwarded the reimbursement proposals for governmental approval. The Court also found that if the re-assessment orders passed by the delegated assessing authority were said to be invalid, the proper course lay in appeal by the Revenue under the Act, not in the Commissioner sitting in effect over the delegate's decision.

Conclusion: The rejection could not be sustained; the impugned order was beyond jurisdiction and liable to be set aside.

Issue (ii): whether the petitioner's claim for reimbursement of VAT paid on raw petroleum coke, after inter-State sale of calcined petroleum coke with CST paid thereon, was barred by delay, laches or acquiescence.

Analysis: The Court treated raw petroleum coke and calcined petroleum coke as forms of declared goods within the expression "coal, including coke in all its forms" under Section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, and held that the settled law entitled the dealer to reimbursement under Section 15(b) once local tax had been paid and CST was paid on the inter-State sale. It distinguished delay and laches from acquiescence, and held that the petitioner's claim had not been expressly rejected in the assessment orders and therefore could not be defeated on the footing that the petitioner had stood by and accepted an adverse decision. The Court also noted that statutory interest governed any delay in processing the claim.

Conclusion: The claim was not barred by delay, laches or acquiescence and remained enforceable.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the authorities were required to process the reimbursement claims in accordance with the statutory scheme and the settled legal position governing declared goods and inter-State sales.

Ratio Decidendi: A refund or reimbursement claim under a taxing statute cannot be rejected by treating silence in an assessment order as a prior adverse decision, and in the absence of statutory review power an authority cannot reopen a conscious earlier recommendation or defeat an otherwise valid claim by invoking delay, laches or acquiescence where no express rejection had been made.

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