- (1.) These appeals by special leave against orders of the high Court of Andhra Pradesh arise out of eight writ petitions numbering 300 of 1967 to 307 of 1967 for the issue of writs of certiorari and mandamus in respect of assessments made under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales tax Act for the years 1959-60, 1960-61, 1961-62 and 1963-64 in respect of purchase and sale of cotton. It appears from the special leave petition that the appellant purchased cotton in the State of Andhra Pradesh at various centres and used to sell the same in the course of inter-State trade or commerce being registered as a dealer both under the Central Sales Tax act, 1956, and under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. The appellant's case further was that being the last dealer who had bought the cotton in the State of Andhra Pradesh it had paid purchase tax under the State Act for the assessment years mentioned and as the cotton was sold in the course of inter-State trade, the appellant applied for and received refund of the purchase tax in accordance with the proviso to section 6 of the State Act. By several assessment orders dated July 28, 1960, July 6, 1961, July 26, 1962, and November 25, 1964, for the assessment years 1959-60, 1960-61, 1961-62 and 1963-64 respectively under the Central Act, the Commercial Tax Officer, Barkatpura, Hyderabad-3, assessed to sales tax the sales of cotton made by the appellant in the course of inter-State trade or commerce in respect whereof the appellant had obtained refunds under the proviso to section 6 of the State Act. The appellant claims not to have been aware that such inter-State sales were not taxable under the Central Act and under a misapprehension and mistake of law paid taxes amounting to Rs. 21,921. 04, for the year 1959-60, rs. 29,331.73 for the year 1960-61, Rs. 21,574.38 for the year 1961-62 and rs. 50,767.44 for the year 1963-64. The appellant claims to have discovered the said mistake in the course of proceedings for assessment for the year 1962-63. It is alleged that the discovery was made through the help of its attorneys who had pointed out to the appellant that the levy of tax under the Central Act was illegal in view of the decision of this court in The State of Mysore v. Yaddalam Lakshminarasimhiah Setty and sons. This discovery is alleged to have been made in January, 1967. The appellant further claims to have called upon the respondents to cancel the orders of assessment and refund the amount of the taxes which had been recovered illegally but the respondents failed and neglected to do so.
(2.) The High Court of Andhra Pradesh dismissed the writ petitions when they came up for admission, mainly on the ground that the petitions for the grant of the extraordinary remedy could not be admitted after the lapse of a long period. The High Court was also of the view that the question of time when the mistake was discovered was a question of fact which had to be enquired into and as the appellant had a remedy open to it by way of a suit in a court of law, which was a more convenient and. effective remedy the same should be pursued by it.
(3.) A group of civil miscellaneous petitions numbering 129 to 136 of 1967 presented before the High Court for grant of leave to appeal to this court was rejected on the ground that the cases were not fit for the exercise of the discretion of the High Court "having regard to the fact that the orders became final nearly 5 to 6 years earlier. ";