Statewide jurisdiction of Intelligence Officers under the sales tax scheme supports penalty orders and relegates parties to statutory appeal.

Intelligence Officers of the Commercial Taxes Department were treated as having statewide jurisdiction to exercise the powers of Sales Tax Officers under section 3(2) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, as reflected in the relevant Government order and S.R.O. No. 1210/94. On that basis, an Intelligence Officer was competent to act as an assessing authority and pass a penalty order within the jurisdiction conferred by the statutory scheme. Where the Act also provides an appeal under section 13, the aggrieved party is to pursue that statutory remedy within the time granted, rather than insist on writ intervention.

---

---

Issues: Whether the Intelligence Officer, Commercial Taxes, had jurisdiction to pass the penalty order and whether the writ petition should be entertained despite the availability of the statutory appeal.

Analysis: The Intelligence Officers of the Commercial Taxes Department were treated as having statewide jurisdiction to exercise the powers of the Sales Tax Officers under section 3(2) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, as reflected in the Government order and S.R.O. No. 1210/94. On that basis, the officer was competent to act as an assessing authority and to pass the impugned order. Since the statute also provided an appeal under section 13, the petitioner was directed to pursue that remedy within the time granted.

Conclusion: The jurisdictional challenge failed, and the petitioner was relegated to the statutory appeal remedy.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was disposed of after upholding the competence of the authority and granting liberty to file an appeal within the stipulated time.

Ratio Decidendi: An Intelligence Officer of the Commercial Taxes Department, vested with statewide powers under the relevant government order and statutory scheme, can act as an assessing authority and pass penalty orders within the jurisdiction conferred by section 3(2) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963.

---