BALLABHDAS AGRAWAL Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by Special Leave against the order of the Board of Revenue, Bihar, relates to the assessment for the year 1950-51 of Sales tax of the appellant under the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947 (Act 19 of 1947), hereinafter called the 'Act'.

(2.) The appellant was a railway caterer, who had Refreshment Rooms and Tea Stalls at various Railway Stations. He sold various kinds of eatables, cigarettes, betels, milk fruits and tea at railway stations. He was registered as a dealer under the Act and had been carrying on business for a fairly long time. His case was that as it was difficult for him to maintain accounts in regard to eatables, some of which were taxable and others were not, he made representation in 1944 to the Bihar Government for some arrangement so that the difficulty in keeping different sets of accounts would be obviated.

(3.) This Court in Chimmonlall Rameshwarlall v. Commissioner of Income-tax (Central), Calcutta, AIR 1960 SC 280, held that in cases where a reference is made to the High Court and the appeal is brought only against the order of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal then the Supreme Court, if it interferred, would in fact be setting aside the judgment of the High Court without there being an appeal to this Court, and that this Court could not by-pass the normal procedure which was to be adopted for the purpose. In a later Judgment in Chandi Prasad v. State of Bihar, AIR 1961 SC 1708, a similar view was taken that as the assessee had not obtained Special Leave in respect of any of the orders passed by the High Court under S. 25 those orders became final and binding and the assessee could not be allowed to by-pass or go behind the orders of the High Court and such exercise would be particularly inadvisable in a case where the result may be a conflict of the decision of two courts of competent jurisdiction, which was contrary to the object of Ss. 23, 24 and 25 of the Act. In this, view of the law the appellant is not entitled to agitate the correctness or otherwise of the decision given by the Tribunal in regard to the questions which were agitated before the High Court and were decided against the appellant and against which no appeal has been brought.