2001 (4) TMI 84 - SUPREME COURT

Whether the vend fee which had been levied by the appropriate State enactments, but not collected whether by reasons of the orders of the Court or otherwise, can be collected now when the said provisions by the said judgment dated 25th October, 1989 have been held to be invalid prospectively?

Held that:- The principle of prospective overruling is too well enshrined in our jurisprudence for it to be disturbed. Therefore, by reason of the decision in second Synthetics case what has actually happened is collection and non-collection of vend fee prior to 25th October, 1989 is left untouched. However, the Court in the second Synthetics case did not specifically deal with the question of deposits made pursuant to interim orders of Courts. The word used there was 'realisation'. It might have been arguable that the 'deposits' were not 'realisations' in the sense, the word has been used in taxation statutes in general and the UP. Excise Act, 1910 in particular. However, the interim orders passed by the High Court show that deposits were made of vend fee and the purchase tax. Although these 'deposits' were to be kept in a separate account, nevertheless in the circumstances of this case, it would be mere sophistry to hold that the monies so deposited were not 'realisations' for the purposes of the U.P. Excise Act. Therefore, what was deposited by the appellants with the State would remain with it notwithstanding, the interim orders which required the State to keep it in a separate account but, at the same time, what has not been collected by the State cannot be realised by it, even in those cases where a bank guarantee had been furnished.