V.K.Mehrotra, J. - (1.) The short point which arises for consideration in these applications-in-revision made by the dealer under Section 11(1) of the U. P. Sales Tax Act is whether it was open to the Tribunal to have granted stay of realisation of only 50 per cent of the tax in dispute before it. The counsel for the applicant argues that it was not and that the Tribunal was under a legal obligation to have granted stay of realisation of the entire amount in dispute.
(2.) Sub-section (6) of Section 10 of the Act deals with the question of stay by the Tribunal. It reads thus : Where an appeal under this section has been filed, the Tribunal may, on the application of the appellant moved within thirty days from the filing of such appeal, after giving the parties a reasonable opportunity of being heard, stay recovery of the disputed amount of any tax, fee or penalty payable, or refund of the amount due, under the order appealed against till the disposal of the appeal: Provided that- (i) no application for stay of recovery of any disputed amount of tax, fee or penalty shall be entertained unless the applicant has furnished satisfactory proof of the payment of not less than one-third of such disputed amount in addition to the amount required to be deposited under Sub-section (1) of Section 9 ; (ii) the Tribunal, may, for special and adequate reasons to be recorded in writing, waive or relax the requirement of the preceding clause regarding payment of the one third of such disputed amount.
(3.) In the instant case, the Tribunal had initially rejected the prayer of the applicant for waiving the requirement of payment of not less than one-third of the disputed amount of tax in addition to the amount required to be deposited under Sub-section (1) of Section 9. Since this had been done by the Tribunal without opportunity to the dealer to have its say in the matter, it rectified its order under Section 22 of the Act at the instance of the dealer. It dwelt at length on the special circumstances which existed in favour of the dealer for acceding to its prayer for waiving the requirement for deposit of one-third tax. Thereafter, it observed as follows : So far as the question of stay is concerned, the appellants were assessed to tax by the assessing authority and the appeals were disallowed. After considering all the facts and circumstances of the case, I stay 50 per cent of the disputed amount of tax except in respect of the application for 1971-72 under the Central Act in which the amount of tax payable is stayed to the extent of Rs. 7,000....;