Tax classification disputes must first exhaust the revisional remedy where competing notifications and factual inquiry are involved.

Where a tax classification dispute depends on whether a product falls under one of competing notifications, the statutory quasi-judicial hierarchy should be allowed to examine the matter first. The controversy over Horlicks rate classification also involved a factual inquiry under the relevant notification proviso, including the percentage of powdered or condensed milk in the product. In these circumstances, an application under section 8 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987, in the nature of articles 226 and 227, was not maintainable until the revisional remedy before the West Bengal Commercial Taxes Appellate and Revisional Board had been exhausted. The application was therefore not entertained.

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Issues: Whether the application under section 8 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987 in the nature of articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India was maintainable without first exhausting the revisional remedy under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954.

Analysis: The dispute concerned classification of Horlicks for rate of tax under competing notifications issued under section 25 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954. The Tribunal held that where the controversy turns on whether a product falls under one notification or another, the statutory quasi-judicial hierarchy should be allowed to examine the matter first. It also noted that the dispute involved a factual inquiry under the proviso to the relevant notification, including the percentage of powdered or condensed milk in the product. In these circumstances, the revisional remedy before the West Bengal Commercial Taxes Appellate and Revisional Board was required to be exhausted before approaching the Tribunal.

Conclusion: The application was not entertained for failure to exhaust the revisional remedy.

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