Appellate authority confined to grounds raised; issue outside the memorandum cannot be decided without leave for additional grounds.

An appellate authority can decide only the subject-matter properly raised in the grounds of appeal, and its power to make orders "thereon" does not extend to questions outside those grounds. Where the procedure permits additional grounds, they must be specifically sought and granted by leave; in this matter, no such leave was shown. The Tribunal therefore should not have adjudicated the issue relating to yield from the 16 acres, because that question was not covered by the memorandum of appeal or the general first ground. The answer was accordingly against the Tribunal and in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the Appellate Tribunal could decide a question not raised in the memorandum of appeal and, on the facts of the case, whether the assessee could be subjected to such a determination without leave to urge an additional ground.

Analysis: The appellate power under the governing provision extends only to making orders "thereon", which confines the Tribunal to the subject-matter of the appeal, namely, the grounds properly raised. The rules applicable to the appeal required grounds to be stated, and although leave to raise additional grounds may be available in appropriate appellate procedure, nothing in the record showed that leave was sought or granted in this case. The question regarding yield from the 16 acres was therefore decided on a matter outside the grounds of appeal, and the wide first ground could not be treated as covering that specific issue.

Conclusion: The Tribunal was not right in adjudicating upon a question not raised in the grounds of appeal; the answer was in the negative and in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: An appellate authority can decide only the subject-matter of the appeal as framed by the grounds raised, unless additional grounds are properly brought in by leave where such a procedure is legally permissible.

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