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17. A levy which is not authorised by law cannot be collected by the State, because, no authority can be conferred for collecting such levy which is not authorised by law, and, if such levy is collected, due to error or otherwise, the State is not entitled to retain and it is under an obligation to refund the same to those from whom such unauthorized levy has been collected.

18. The principle underlined above conclusion is that laws have been worked through human agency and men are liable to err. The Constitution does not guarantee that the person employed who administers the law will not make mistake when exercising powers conferred on them. If they make mistake in exercise of their power, the person affected must ordinarily use remedy of appeal, reference or revision, as the case may be, for correcting such error, and, if it is found during such remedial process that a tax has been collected either in excess of what has been authorised by law or not authorised by law; immediately an obligation arises on the State to refund what has been collected without authority of law to the person from whom the same is collected. If that obligation is not cast upon the assessing authority the very meaning and purport of providing remedies against probable human error at the initial stage would be meaningless and would be a futile exercise.