Tribunal as forum of first instance bars single-bench writ relief in State tax dispute.

A tax dispute falling within the statutory scheme for levy, assessment, collection and enforcement under the State tax laws must be pursued before the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal as the forum of first instance. The settlement mechanism under the West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) Act, 1999 was treated as operating within that Tribunal-based framework, not displacing it. On that construction, writ petitions challenging the settlement order were not maintainable before a single Bench, and the objection to the Tribunal's jurisdiction failed. The petitioner was left free to approach the Tribunal on merits without prejudice.

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Issues: Whether the writ petitions challenging the order under the West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) Act, 1999 were maintainable before a single Bench of the High Court, and whether the statutory scheme vested jurisdiction in the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal.

Analysis: The constitutional scheme under Article 323-B and the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987 was read as constituting the Tribunal as the forum of first instance for disputes relating to levy, assessment, collection and enforcement of tax under the specified State Acts. The statutory provisions governing the Tribunal's jurisdiction were construed broadly, and the settlement mechanism under the West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) Act, 1999 was held to operate within that framework rather than to displace it. The Court rejected the narrow construction urged against the Tribunal's jurisdiction, held that the dispute was in substance one concerning tax assessment, and declined to treat the matter as one requiring writ intervention at the single-Bench stage. The Court also preserved the petitioner's right to approach the Tribunal without prejudice on merits.

Conclusion: The writ petitions were not maintainable before the single Bench, and the appropriate remedy lay before the Tribunal; the objection to the Tribunal's jurisdiction failed.

Final Conclusion: The challenge was rejected, and the tax dispute was left to be adjudicated by the statutory Tribunal in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a tax dispute falls within the statutory scheme creating a Tribunal as the forum of first instance, writ relief before a single Bench is not maintainable and the aggrieved party must pursue the remedy before the Tribunal.

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