I96z operation of any law, existing or prospective, in so far as it imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise The 0 rient. f h , ht . h . f h 1 bl' Paper Mills Ltd. o t at ng rn t e rnterest o t e genera pu IC. v. Assuming that by enacting that refund of tax shall The Staie of only be made to the purchasers from whom the tax has Orissa & Others been collected by the dealers and not to the dealers who have paid the tax the fundamental right under Shah j. Art. 19(l)(f) is restricted, we are unable to hold that the restriction imposed by s. 14A of the Act is not in the interest of the general public. The Legislature by s. 9B(l) of the Act authorised registered dealers to collect tax from the purchasers which they may have to pay on their turnover. The amounts collected by the assessees therefore primarily belonged not to the assessees but to the purchasers. On an erroneous assumption that tax was payable, tax was collected by the assessees and was paid over to the State. Under s. 9B, cl. (3) of the Act as it stood at the material time, the amounts realised by any person as tax on sale of any goods shall, notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of the Act, be deposited by him in a Government treasury within such period as may be prescribed if the amount so realised exceeded the amount payable as tax in respect of that sale or if no tax is payable in respect thereof. As the tax collected by the assessees was not exigible in respect of the sales from the purchasers, a statutory obligation arose to deposit it with the State and by paying that tax under the assessment, the assessees must be deemed to have complied with this requirement. But the amount of tax remained under s. 9B of the Act with the Government of Orissa as a deposit. If with a view to prevent the assessees who had no beneficial interest in those amounts from making'a profit out of the tax collected, the Legislature enacted that the amount so deposited shall be claimable only by the persons who had paid the amounts to the dealer and not by the dealer, it must be held that the restriction on the right of the assessees to obtain refund was lawfully circumscribed in. the interest of the general public.
