https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=162318 Section 14 of the West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) Act, 1999 was examined as a refund bar within an optional tax settlement scheme. Applying the test of reasonable classification under article 14, the majority view accepted that dealers who voluntarily entered the scheme with knowledge of its terms formed a distinct class and that the refund restriction had a rational nexus with the scheme's objective of expeditious dispute resolution. On that basis, the constitutional challenge failed and the excess deposit was held not refundable. The dissent considered the denial of refund arbitrary, but the operative view sustained the statutory prohibition and left no enforceable claim for return of the excess amount. en-us Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:00:00 +0530 Mon, 24 Feb 2014 16:55:03 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=162318 Section 14 of the West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) Act, 1999 was examined as a refund bar within an optional tax settlement scheme. Applying the test of reasonable classification under article 14, the majority view accepted that dealers who voluntarily entered the scheme with knowledge of its terms formed a distinct class and that the refund restriction had a rational nexus with the scheme's objective of expeditious dispute resolution. On that basis, the constitutional challenge failed and the excess deposit was held not refundable. The dissent considered the denial of refund arbitrary, but the operative view sustained the statutory prohibition and left no enforceable claim for return of the excess amount. Case-Laws VAT and Sales Tax Fri, 05 Aug 2005 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=162318