Summary
A later, more onerous court-fee provision could not impair an accrued substantive right of appeal without clear retrospective intent. The Court rejected the Kerala High Court’s filing-date approach to Section 260A tax appeals. Its operative directions used the assessment date for assessee appeals and the date the appellate authority negatived the assessment for Revenue appeals, with 6 March 2003 as the stated cutoff.
Issues
- Whether the increased Kerala court fee governed every tax appeal filed after its introduction.
- Which dates governed accrued appeal rights for the assessee and Revenue.
Held
- A right of appeal is substantive, vests at the relevant commencement of the dispute and cannot be made more onerous by later legislation absent express words or necessary implication. The prior absence of a Section 260A appeal before 1998 did not defeat rights accrued after its enactment. (¶ 12–14)
- The operative holding provided that an assessee’s assessment before 6 March 2003 attracted the fee payable at assessment, not Section 52A. For Revenue, the relevant date was when the appellate authority set aside the assessment; if before that stated cutoff, Section 52A did not govern. (¶ 15–16)
Result
Appeals allowed; High Court view set aside and the operative assessment-date and appellate-order-date rules substituted.