Writ interference at show cause stage is generally inappropriate where tax law provides objection, assessment, appeal and revision remedies.

In taxation proceedings, the High Court should ordinarily decline to interfere under Article 226 at the stage of a show cause notice or pending assessment where the statute provides an effective sequence of objection, assessment, appeal and revision. The assessing authority must first consider the dealer's objections and supporting material and return a finding on exemption or classification in the first instance. Writ intervention is therefore inappropriate at the notice stage, and the assessment process should be permitted to proceed before the departmental authorities.

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Issues: Whether the High Court should entertain a writ petition under Article 226 against a show cause notice issued in sales tax proceedings and quash the notices at the threshold instead of permitting the assessing authority to complete the assessment in accordance with law.

Analysis: The dispute arose at the notice stage of assessment under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, where the assessing authority had only formed a prima facie view and invited objections. The existence of a statutory scheme for filing objections, followed by assessment, appeal and revision, meant that the controversy on exemption and classification of the imported goods had first to be examined by the assessing authority. In tax matters, interference under Article 226 at the stage of show cause notice or assessment is inappropriate where an efficacious statutory remedy is available. The fact that the dealer had produced supporting material did not make the issue conclusively determinable in writ jurisdiction, since the assessing authority had to consider the material and return a finding in the first instance.

Conclusion: The writ petition ought not to have been entertained at the notice stage, and the assessment process had to be allowed to proceed before the departmental authorities.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the impugned notices failed, and the matter was restored to the assessing authority to decide the assessment on merits in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: In taxation matters, the High Court should ordinarily decline to interfere under Article 226 at the stage of a show cause notice or pending assessment where the statute provides an effective mechanism of objection, assessment, appeal and revision.

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