Statutory reference remedy under Section 256 bars Article 226 writ challenge to an Income-tax Appellate Tribunal order.

Where the Income-tax Act, 1961 provides an efficacious statutory reference remedy for questions of law under Section 256, Article 226 writ jurisdiction will ordinarily not be entertained to challenge an Income-tax Appellate Tribunal order. The availability of a reference application to the Tribunal and, if refused, recourse to the High Court under Section 256(2) was treated as the proper legal route, and the possibility that interim relief may not be available in that proceeding did not justify bypassing the statutory mechanism. The writ petition was therefore held not maintainable and liable to be dismissed.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India was maintainable to challenge an order of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal when the Income-tax Act, 1961 provided a statutory reference mechanism under Section 256.

Analysis: The Tribunal had already considered and distinguished the cited jurisdictional precedent. The statutory scheme of Section 256 provided an efficacious remedy to the assessee to seek a reference on questions of law, and, if the Tribunal refused, to approach the High Court under Section 256(2). The availability of that specific remedy meant that the writ jurisdiction should not be invoked merely because interim relief might be unavailable in the reference proceeding.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable and was liable to be dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Income-tax Act, 1961 provides an efficacious statutory remedy for reference of questions of law under Section 256, writ jurisdiction under Article 226 will ordinarily not be entertained to challenge the Tribunal's order.

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