https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=169500 A belated writ challenge to a cess demand was not barred merely by delay and laches, because laches is a discretionary rule and may yield where the demand is manifestly illegal and the delay is reasonably explained. The cess under the Bengal Cess Act had to be assessed with reference to net profits attributable only to the immovable property used for the railway business, not the net profits of the railway undertaking as a whole. A demand based on the entire business income was beyond the statutory charge and unsustainable, so the cess was required to be recomputed on the correct basis. en-us Thu, 12 Mar 1992 00:00:00 +0530 Wed, 10 Dec 2025 19:57:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=169500 A belated writ challenge to a cess demand was not barred merely by delay and laches, because laches is a discretionary rule and may yield where the demand is manifestly illegal and the delay is reasonably explained. The cess under the Bengal Cess Act had to be assessed with reference to net profits attributable only to the immovable property used for the railway business, not the net profits of the railway undertaking as a whole. A demand based on the entire business income was beyond the statutory charge and unsustainable, so the cess was required to be recomputed on the correct basis. Case-Laws Indian Laws Thu, 12 Mar 1992 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=169500