Writ jurisdiction and show-cause notices: challenge to proposed penalty notice was not entertained where statutory objections could be raised first.

A writ petition under article 226 is ordinarily not used to stop a mere show-cause notice, especially where the authority is not shown to lack jurisdiction and the noticee can raise factual and legal objections before the statutory forum. In the context of a proposed penalty under the U.P. Trade Tax Act, the Court noted that the plea of delay or limitation could be examined by the assessing authority and that no specific limitation period was prescribed for levy of penalty. The challenge to the notice was therefore not entertained at the writ stage, and the petitioner was relegated to the statutory authority.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition under article 226 was maintainable to challenge a show-cause notice proposing penalty under section 15A(1)(l) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948, on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction and belated initiation on account of delay or limitation.

Analysis: The notice impugned was only a show-cause notice and not a jurisdictional notice. The petitioner had an adequate opportunity to raise all factual and legal objections, including the plea of delay, before the assessing authority. The Court applied the settled principle that writ jurisdiction is ordinarily not invoked to stop show-cause proceedings unless the notice is ex facie without jurisdiction or no offence is disclosed. It also noted that no specific period of limitation was prescribed for levy of penalty and that the question whether the action was taken after an unreasonable delay depended on the facts and could properly be examined by the statutory authority.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable at this stage and the petitioner was relegated to the statutory authority to raise all objections, including limitation and delay. The challenge to the notice was not entertained.

Final Conclusion: The Court declined to interfere in writ jurisdiction and left the parties to pursue the matter before the assessing authority.

Ratio Decidendi: A writ petition ordinarily does not lie to challenge a mere show-cause notice when the authority is not shown to lack jurisdiction and the aggrieved party has an effective opportunity to raise all objections before the statutory forum, including objections based on delay or limitation.

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