Commissioner of Sales Tax vs Chhajuram Ram Kumar and Co.

V.K. Mehrotra, J.—The grievance of the Commissioner of Sales Tax, U.P., who is the applicant in these revisions u/s 11(1) of the U.P. Sales Tax Act is that the single member Tribunal which disposed of the application made on his behalf for condonation of delay in the presentation of the appeal, and consequentially, the appeal itself was not competent to do so and that the decision rendered by the Tribunal was without jurisdiction.

It is not in dispute that the amount of tax involved in both the cases at the stage of appeal before the Tribunal was in excess of Rs. 5,000. Such a matter was cognisable by a Bench of the Tribunal consisting of two members. That was because of the provision of Section 10(10)(a) of the Act. The legal position in this regard was laid down by this Court in Commissioner of Sales Tax, U.P. v. Lal Chand 1982 STJ 215.

In these circumstances, the disposal by the Tribunal, with a single member, of the application containing the prayer for condonation of delay and also the appeal was bad.

The order of the Tribunal is set aside and the matter remanded to it for reconsideration in accordance with law. Costs on parties.