https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=168702 Section 45 confers on the Income-tax Officer a statutory discretion to treat an assessee as not in default pending appeal, but that discretion is coupled with a duty to consider applications judicially on relevant, fair and non-arbitrary grounds. Mandamus may issue where the authority refuses to consider the request or effectively fails to exercise discretion, yet mere filing of an appeal does not create an automatic stay and the court will not replace a valid merits-based decision. On the facts discussed, the assessee had not shown sufficient justification, security, or a substantial basis for interim protection, so no writ relief was warranted against recovery. en-us Tue, 03 Apr 1956 00:00:00 +0530 Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:05:34 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=168702 Section 45 confers on the Income-tax Officer a statutory discretion to treat an assessee as not in default pending appeal, but that discretion is coupled with a duty to consider applications judicially on relevant, fair and non-arbitrary grounds. Mandamus may issue where the authority refuses to consider the request or effectively fails to exercise discretion, yet mere filing of an appeal does not create an automatic stay and the court will not replace a valid merits-based decision. On the facts discussed, the assessee had not shown sufficient justification, security, or a substantial basis for interim protection, so no writ relief was warranted against recovery. Case-Laws Income Tax Tue, 03 Apr 1956 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=168702