Judgment

RANGANATHAN, J. :- These three appeals by the Fertiliser Corporation of India Limited (hereinafter referred to as the assessee) arise out of its sales tax assessments for the assessment years 1959-60, 1960-61 and 1961-62 under the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). They raise a very short but interesting question regarding the entitlement of the assessee to the rebate of tax provided for in section 15 of the Act.

2. At the outset, a reference may be made to the salient portions of certain relevant provisions of the Act. Section 14(l) provides that every registered dealer shall furnish such returns within such period and to such authority as may be prescribed. The prescribed authority is the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax who is also the assessing authority. Under R. 10 of the Rules framed under the Act, the assessee should file quarterly returns. Such returns are to be filed within one calendar month of the expiry of the period to which they relate. Subsection (3) of S. 14 provides for an extension of time for the filing of the return. It reads :

"If the prescribed authority is satisfied that a dealer is, for reasonable cause, unable to furnish any return within the prescribed period or the period fixed under the proviso to subsection (1), the said authority may extend the period for submission of the return."

Section 20 of the Act requires that, before any registered dealer furnishes a return under the Act, he should pay into a Government Treasury the full amount of tax due under the Act according to such return and should also furnish along with the return a receipt from such Treasury showing the payment of the said amount. Section 15 is the provision entitling the assessee to a rebate. It reads as follows :

"Rebate - A rebate at the rate of one per centum of the amount of tax admitted to be due in the return furnished under sub-sec. (1) of S. 14 in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed or extended period shall be allowed to a registered dealer who has paid such amount according to the provisions of sub-section (2) of S. 20.

Provided that where the amount finally assessed on the dealer is less than the admitted amount, rebate at the said rate shall be allowed only on the amount so assessed :

Provided further that the State Government may, by notification, and subject to such conditions or restrictions as may be specified therein, enhance or reduce the rate of rebate in respect of registered dealers generally or any class of such dealers."

It may be noted that, under the proviso to S. 22 of the Act, a registered dealer is entitled to deduct from the amount of tax due from him under the Act according to his return any amount which may be admissible as rebate under the provision s of S. 15.

3. In the present case, the assessee filed its quarterly returns under S. 14(l) of the Act but, except for the second quarter of 1960-61, the returns were all filed belatedly. To illustrate, the returns for the second, third and fourth quarters of 1959-60, were filed by the assessee only on the 7th November, 1959, 11th February, 1960 and 1st June, 1960. In other words, the returns were late by a few days. It is common ground that there was no application made by the assessee to the prescribed authority for extension of the time prescribed under the Act for the filing of the return. The assessee, however, paid the taxes before the due dates of the respective returns, availed itself of the rebate and deducted the same while paying the tax due on the returns filed by it.

4. The short question that arose before the Tribunal as well as the High Court was whether the assessee was entitled to the rebate under S. 15. The Tribunal held that the rebate is available to an assessee only if-

(i) the tax on the basis of returns is paid as prescribed in S. 20; and

(ii) the quarterly returns of the assessee had been filed within the prescribed period or extended period.

As the assessee had not filed its returns with