Writ jurisdiction barred where statutory appeal exists against reassessment orders; petitions dismissed for bypassing appellate remedy.

Writ petitions challenging reassessment orders under the Assam General Sales Tax Act, 1993 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 were held not maintainable under Article 226 because a statutory appeal was available. The Court treated the petitions as an attempt to bypass the appellate mechanism and found no special circumstance justifying recourse to writ jurisdiction. It also noted that an earlier decision on the same issue had already held such petitions to be non-maintainable, and no material distinction was shown to depart from that view. The petitions were dismissed for non-exhaustion of the statutory appellate remedy.

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Issues: Whether the writ petitions challenging reassessment orders were maintainable under Article 226 of the Constitution of India when a statutory appellate remedy was available.

Analysis: The petitions arose from reassessment orders under the Assam General Sales Tax Act, 1993 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. The Court noted that the statutory scheme provided an appeal against assessment and reassessment orders and that the petitioners had not shown any special circumstance warranting bypass of that remedy. The challenge was therefore treated as an attempt to invoke writ jurisdiction as a substitute for the appellate process. The Court also held that the earlier decision involving the same issue had already concluded that such writ petitions were not maintainable, and there was no material distinction requiring a different view.

Conclusion: The writ petitions were held to be not maintainable and were dismissed on the ground of non-exhaustion of the statutory appellate remedy.

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