In the instant case seller was not in a position to discharge his burden and, therefore, he is not entitled for refund. In view of the said position, all the authorities have held that a question of refund of tax would not arise in the case of the appellant, since no tax had been demanded from the appellant for the tea. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, tax was collected from the appellant at the time of purchase of tea in the occasion sale conducted by the tea planters since tea is a commodity which was liable to tax at the time of first sale in the State. The tax which was, collected from the appellant by the dealer has been remitted to the government by the dealer of tea. It further appears that the appellant claimed for refund of the said amount to be paid to it, despite the fact that it is not a dealer in the eye of law. Section 44 of the KGST Act is very clear and it stipulates that it is only the dealer of tea on whom the assessment has been made and it is only he who can claim for refund of tax and the Court cannot overlook the mandate. In view of the clear and unambiguous position, the appellant cannot claim for refund of tax collected from the seller of tea. When the meaning and the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, nothing could be added to the language and the words of the statute. The findings recorded by the authorities below are clearly findings of fact and have also been arrived at on the basis of the mandate of the provisions of the State Act. Therefore, the decision does not call for any interference. There is no possibility of taking a proactive stance although it is clear that the State cannot retain the tax which is overpaid, but at the same time such overpaid tax cannot be paid to the assessees or appellants. The principles laid down in the decision in Mafatlal’s case would also not be applicable to the facts of the instant case in view of the provisions of Section 44 of the KGST Act, which refers to claim for refund and specifically states that such refund could be made only to a dealer claiming for such refund. This is a dispute between brothers. In our opinion, an effort should be made to resolve the dispute between the parties by mediation. In this connection, we would like to quote the following passages from Mahatma, Gandhi’s book ‘My Experiments with Truth’ I saw that the facts of Dada Abdulla’s case made it a very strong indeed, and the law was bound to be on his side. But I also saw that the litigation, if it were persisted in, would ruin the plaintiff and the defendant, who were relatives and both belonged to the same city. No one knew how long the case might go on. Should it be allowed to continue to be fought out in Court, it might go on indefinitely and to no advantage of either party. Both, therefore, desired an immediate termination of the case, if possible. I approached Tyeb Sheth and requested and advised him to go to arbitration. I recommended him to see his counsel. I suggested to him that if an arbitrator commanding the confidence of both parties could be appointed, the case would be quickly finished. The lawyer’ fees were so rapidly mounting up that they were enough to devour all the resources of the clients, big merchants as they were. The case occupied so much of their attention that they had no time left for any other work. In the meanwhile mutual ill-will was steadily increasing. I became disgusted with the profession. As lawyers the counsel on both sides were bound to rake up points of law in support of their own clients, I also saw for the first time that the winning party never recovers all the costs incurred. Under the Court Fees Regulation there was a fixed scale of costs to be allowed as between party and party, the actual costs as between attorney and client being very much higher. This was more than I could bear. I felt that my duty was to befriend both parties and bring them together. I strained every nerve to bring about a compromise. At last Tyeb Sheth agreed. An arbitrator was appointed, the case was argued before him, and Dada Abdulla won. But that did not satisfy me. If my client were to seek immediate execution of the award, it would be impossible for Tyeb Sheth to meet the whole of the awarded amount of Rs. 37,000/-. (800)
