Statutory rebate dispute under sales tax law barred from civil suit where revision and refund remedies exist.

A civil suit for recovery of rebate under section 13(8) of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947 was barred because the rebate dispute arose from an order made under the Act and fell within the statutory remedial scheme. The rebate was treated as a statutory entitlement linked to timely tax payment, while refusal of rebate was held to be revisable under the Act, with further appeal available from the revisional order. Since section 14 provided machinery for adjustment and refund and section 22 barred civil court intervention where the Act supplied an exhaustive remedy, the assessee had to pursue the statutory route.

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Issues: Whether a civil suit was maintainable for recovery of rebate claimed under section 13(8) of the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947, in view of the bar under section 22 of the Act and the statutory machinery for refund or revision.

Analysis: The rebate under section 13(8) was held to be a statutory entitlement arising on payment of tax within time, and the Sales Tax Officer's decision on granting or refusing it was treated as an order under the Act and not a mere ministerial act. The statutory scheme provided machinery for adjustment and refund under section 14, and an adverse order refusing rebate was held to be revisable, with further appeal available from the revisional order. Section 22 therefore applied because the dispute related to an order made under the Act, and the civil court could not be invoked where the statute provided an exhaustive remedy. The scope of civil court jurisdiction was recognised only within the limited exceptions where the statutory principles permitting civil interference were satisfied, but no such pleading or case was made out here.

Conclusion: The suit was held to be barred by section 22, and the assessee's remedy lay within the statutory mechanism under the Orissa Sales Tax Act, 1947.

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