Efficacious alternative remedy bars writ interference where tax classification and provisional assessment issues remain debatable.

Where a taxpayer challenges provisional assessment through writ proceedings despite an available statutory appeal, the writ court may decline interference if the dispute raises debatable issues on tax classification and the validity of provisional assessment. The court noted that such objections could be pursued before the appellate authority or in regular assessment proceedings. Because the statute provided an efficacious alternative remedy, the petitioner was relegated to that remedy and the merits of the assessment and jurisdictional objections were not examined at that stage.

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Issues: Whether the writ petition should be entertained when the petitioner had a statutory appeal remedy against provisional assessment.

Analysis: The dispute involved debatable questions on the applicability of the relevant tax entry and the validity of invocation of provisional assessment. The Court noted that such contentions could be raised before the appellate authority or in regular assessment proceedings. As the statute provided an efficacious alternative remedy, the Court declined to examine the merits of the tax classification dispute at that stage.

Conclusion: The petitioner was relegated to the statutory alternative remedy and the writ court did not pronounce on the merits of the assessment or jurisdictional objections.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute provides an efficacious appellate remedy and the dispute raises debatable issues, the writ court may decline interference and relegate the party to the statutory remedy.

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