Statutory refund requires an assessment order; writ relief was unavailable for voluntary sales tax payment.

A refund claim for sales tax voluntarily paid before any assessment order was made was held not to fall within Section 14 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947. The statutory refund machinery was construed as presupposing an assessment order, so no enforceable refund right arose against the tax authorities. In the absence of such a statutory duty, Article 226 relief was unavailable, and any refund claim, if otherwise maintainable in law, had to be pursued in the ordinary civil forum subject to limitation.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition under Article 226 could be maintained for refund of sales tax voluntarily paid before any assessment order was passed, and whether the refund claim was governed by Section 14 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947.

Analysis: Section 14 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947 provides for refund in the prescribed manner, and the rules framed under the Act require the application to refer to an assessment order. On that construction, the statutory right of refund contemplated by Section 14 presupposes the existence of an assessment order. Since no assessment order had been made, the petitioner could not invoke the statutory refund machinery. In the absence of a statutory obligation enforceable against the sales tax authorities, the extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 was not available. Any claim to refund, if otherwise open in law, had to be pursued in the ordinary civil forum, subject to limitation.

Conclusion: The refund application under the Act was not maintainable, and the writ petition failed.

Final Conclusion: The petition was dismissed because no enforceable statutory right to refund arose in the absence of an assessment order, leaving the petitioner to his ordinary remedy, if any.

Ratio Decidendi: The extraordinary writ jurisdiction cannot be used to compel refund of tax unless the applicant establishes an enforceable statutory right and corresponding public duty under the governing tax law.

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