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2005 (7) TMI 609 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxPre-deposit - Validity of Order of assessment - tax liability - Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act ('Act') - factory was on strike they could not furnish the declaration forms - HELD THAT:- In our opinion, there should be such a provision permitting waiver or stay of the pre-deposit amount by the appellate authority in appropriate and genuine cases because there may be cases where the assessee may not be able to deposit the pre-deposit amount for genuine reasons, or there may be a very glaring mistake in the order, or where waiver or stay should be done for some other good and appropriate reason. There may be cases where a huge demand is arbitrarily made by an assessment order although the assessee can clearly satisfy the appellate authority that he is not liable to pay tax at all, or at a far lower amount. Because of the absence of provision for waiver or stay in Section 31 of the Act many cases are coming up directly by way of writ petition in this Court challenging the assessment order. We are not inclined to entertain such writ petitions because there is alternative remedy by way of appeal. However, the appeal may be rendered illusory in many cases because there is no provision for waiver or stay of the pre-deposit amount even in genuine and appropriate cases. Hence we recommend to the State Government to issue an ordinance forthwith amending Section 31 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act and making a provision permitting waiver or stay by the appellate authority (in its discretion) of the pre-deposit amount in appropriate and genuine cases so that the assessees may not face hardship, and the alternative remedy of appeal may not become illusory. It may also be pointed out that the second appellate remedy u/s 36 of the Act can only be availed of if the entire tax amount is prepaid vide second proviso (a) to Section 36 of the Act. Hence we recommend that there should be a similar amendment in Section 36 of the Act also. The writ appeals are disposed off.
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