P. R. Ramachandra Menon :-

The issue involved in this case is, whether the payments effected by the petitioner towards the arrears of tax liability, after the declaration of the proposed "Amnesty Scheme" with effect from April 1, 2010 in the "Budget Speech" 2010, with specific request to have it set off against the principal tax and surcharge, could have been unilaterally appropriated by the departmental authorities against "interest", placing reliance on section 55C of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, contending that, as on the date of payment, the scheme had not actually come into force.

The petitioner - firm was in arrears of sales tax with regard to the year 1997-98 and the first respondent initiated recovery steps for realization of the dues, coming to a total of Rs. 3,82,015 including interest. In the meanwhile, the proposal for settlement of tax dues was announced in the Kerala budget speech, 2010, letting it known to all concerned that, similar benefit as announced in the 2008 Scheme, would be implemented with effect from April 1, 2010 till June 30, 2010, enabling the defaulters to clear the liability by availing of the benefit of the scheme. True copy of the