Final assessment and recovery proceedings under sales tax law cannot be stalled by writ once statutory remedies are not pursued.

Recovery proceedings under the sales tax revenue recovery mechanism can proceed once the tax liability has been determined and the assessment has attained finality. At that stage, the recovering authority acts within jurisdiction, and the recovery process is treated as execution rather than a forum to dispute the correctness of the assessment. An assessee who did not pursue the statutory remedies against the assessment cannot use a writ of prohibition to block recovery. The challenge to the recovery notice was therefore rejected.

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Issues: Whether a writ of prohibition could be issued to restrain recovery proceedings initiated on the basis of a final assessment order under the sales tax law.

Analysis: Recovery under the revenue recovery mechanism is available only after the tax liability has been determined and the assessment has attained finality. Once the assessment order has become final, the authority proceeding to recover the arrears does not act without jurisdiction. The recovery stage is analogous to execution, and it is not open to the assessee to challenge the correctness of the final assessment in such proceedings. The failure to pursue the statutory remedies against the assessment cannot be used to prevent recovery under the applicable recovery provision.

Conclusion: The writ of prohibition was not maintainable and the challenge to the recovery notice failed.

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