Delayed-payment surcharge for late electricity-bill payment does...

Delayed-payment surcharge for late electricity-bill payment does not constitute consideration for tolerating an act under Section 66E(e) where it secures timely payment, discourages default and lacks an express or implied reciprocal agreement to accept delay. Meter-testing charges are ancillary to statutory electricity distribution, inseparable from consumption measurement and billing, and therefore take the negative-list treatment of the principal distribution service despite separate pricing. Extended limitation requires positive evidence of fraud, collusion, wilful misstatement, suppression or contravention intended to evade tax; publicly regulated, recorded charges previously examined by the tax authorities do not establish deliberate suppression. Consequently, demands beyond the normal period, with related interest and penalty, were unsustainable.