Writ jurisdiction and alternative remedy: a show cause notice under sales tax law was not fit for Article 226 interference.

A writ petition under Article 226 is ordinarily not maintainable against a show cause notice under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act where the statute provides an effective assessment, appeal and revision mechanism. The Court treated section 12(1) as wide enough to authorise notice where tax had escaped assessment or been assessed too low, and held that the mere presence of legal questions did not justify bypassing the statutory remedy. In the absence of any jurisdictional defect, the notice could be challenged before the assessing authority itself, so writ interference was unwarranted.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition under Article 226 was maintainable against a show cause notice issued under section 12 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, in view of the availability of an alternative statutory remedy and the absence of a jurisdictional defect.

Analysis: The petitioner challenged only a show cause notice and was not without remedy under the Act. The statutory scheme provided a complete machinery of assessment, appeal and revision, and the notice could be contested before the assessing authority itself. The Court treated the power under section 12(1) as wide enough to authorise issuance of notice where tax had escaped assessment or been assessed at too low a rate, and held that the mere raising of questions of law did not justify bypassing the remedies available under the Act. Since no want of jurisdiction was established, interference in writ jurisdiction was unwarranted.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable and was dismissed because an efficacious alternative remedy existed and the notice under section 12 could not be treated as without jurisdiction.

Ratio Decidendi: A writ petition will not ordinarily be entertained against a show cause notice when the taxing statute provides an effective appellate and revisional remedy and the issuing authority has jurisdiction to act under the escape-assessment provision.

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