1. MUHAMMAD AFZAL ZULLAH, J.--Leave to appeal has been sought from judgment, dated 5-7-1983 of the Lahore High Court, whereby the respondent's constitutional petition arising out of their demand for the refund of sales tax for several assessment years, was allowed.
2. The Sales-tax Officer, petitioner No. 1, rejected the claim of the respondent for refund of sales tax for the years 1971-72 to 1974-75. The dispute went up to the Appellate Tribunal which directed the refund. None challenged the orders of the Tribunal and they became final. When, however, the petitioner No. 1 asked the respondent to produce the records for verification of the amount claimed to be refunded, it refused to do so on the plea that the Tribunal's orders implied that the refund was to be made without verification of the amount claimed to have been paid as sales-tax. A second round of appeals upto the Tribunal ended in the verdict against the petitioner. It was found that the final orders in the earlier round implied that the refund would be without verification. The High Court also held it so. Therefore, the petitioners have sought leave to appeal.
3. Learned counsel has taken us through the various orders passed in the two rounds of litigation.
4. Prima facie, there seems force in the contention that the question of verification of claim and determination of the amount to be refunded in accordance with the prescribed procedure, was not examined nor decided in the first round of litigation.
5. The question of verification raised in this petition as also the question whether the High Court should have interfered in its discretionary jurisdiction, in case it is found just and fair that the respondent should have responded to a call for verification of its claim as to the exact amount to be refunded, need examination. Leave to appeal is accordingly granted.