TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1987 (7) TMI 8
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....e interpretation of sections 3, 3A and 3B of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, and also on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Jagannath Prasad v. State of Uttar Pradesh [1963] 14 STC 536. Since the preliminary objection so raised was of some importance, I requested Mr. Sakthinath Mukherjee, a senior counsel of this court, to act as amicus curiae in the matter. Before I deal with the points at issue in the present case, I record my sincere appreciation of the very valuable assistance rendered by Mr. Mukherjee as amicus curiae. Article 227(1) of the Constitution of India runs as follows: "Every High Court shall have superintendence over all courts and Tribunals throughout the territories in relation to which it exercis....
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....date as may be notified by the State Government and subject to such rules as may be prescribed, the State Government may constitute a Tribunal to be called the West Bengal Commercial Taxes Tribunal. Clause (a) of Sub-section (3) of section 20 of the said Act states that subject to such rules as may be prescribed and for reasons to be recorded in writing, the Commissioner may, on his own motion, revise any assessment made or order passed by the person appointed under section 3 to assist him and clause (b) of the said sub-section (3) of section 20 states that subject to such rules as may be prescribed and for reasons to be recorded in writing, the Commissioner may, upon application, revise any order other than an order referred to in clause (....
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.... parties concerned and such officers are definitely taxing authorities. Article 265 of the Constitution of India, in clear terms, states that no tax should be levied or collected except by authority of law which means, inter alia, that the tax so imposed or levied must be authorised by a valid piece of legislation. The Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, is no doubt a valid piece of legislation but the tax levied under the said Act must be in accordance with the provisions thereof. It can, therefore, be said that the taxing authority in order to levy tax must act according to the provisions of article 265 of the Constitution of India. Revision of assessment of tax by the Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes also amounts to levying....
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....was not a "Tribunal" but observed that under article 227 of the Constitution of India, the High Court will not review the discretion of the authority judicially exercised, but it may interfere if the exercise of such discretion is capricious or perverse or ultra vires. The High Court may refuse to interfere under article 227 unless there is grave miscarriage of justice. In the case of CIT v. B. N. Bhattacharjee [1979] 118 ITR 461, the Supreme Court held in clear terms that the Settlement Commission under the Income-tax Act, as amended by, the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 1975, are Tribunals within the meaning of article 136(1) of the Constitution of India. Even the initial authority, namely, the Commercial Tax Officer, was held to be a T....
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....ourt in the said case. Moreover, section 3B of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, also has no manner of application in the present case as that section speaks of the Government's power to set up Appellate Tribunals under the said Act invested with the powers of the State and are definitely Tribunals being set up by the Legislature, but this does not mean that apart from statutory Tribunals, authorities set up under the statute who perform quasi-judicial functions cannot be termed as "Tribunals" under the provisions of the Constitution of India including article 227 thereof, even if such authorities are not statutory Tribunals. From the overall conspectus of the aforesaid judgments and also upon a plain reading of article 265 of the C....