Civil court jurisdiction barred where sales tax notices had to be challenged through statutory revision under the Act.

Notices issued under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 and treated as compounding and penalty proceedings could not be challenged by civil suits because the Act provided an efficacious statutory revision remedy under section 33. Penalty being deemed tax for collection and recovery purposes under section 25 reinforced the statutory framework, and the bar on civil court intervention applied. The civil court therefore had no jurisdiction to entertain the suits, and the plaintiffs were required to pursue the remedy available under the Act instead of instituting separate civil proceedings.

---

---

Issues: Whether the civil court had jurisdiction to entertain the suits challenging the notices issued under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, and whether the plaintiff was bound to pursue the statutory remedy of revision instead of instituting civil suits.

Analysis: The notices assailed in the suits were treated as proceedings relating to compounding and penalty under the Act. Under section 25 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, penalty is deemed to be tax for the purposes of collection and recovery. The Act provided an efficacious statutory remedy by way of revision under section 33, and the civil suit was therefore not the proper course. In this setting, the bar under the Act against civil court intervention applied, and the challenge to the departmental notices could not be maintained by way of a suit.

Conclusion: The civil court had no jurisdiction and the suits were not maintainable; the challenge had to be pursued through the statutory remedy under the Act.

---