Writ challenge to VAT show-cause notice declined where contract classification and exemption fee required factual adjudication first.

Writ jurisdiction should generally not be used to challenge a show-cause notice or connected assessment order at the threshold where the dispute turns on mixed questions of fact and law. Questions about contract classification and the applicable exemption fee under the VAT notification require examination of the contract terms, surrounding circumstances, and evidence, and are to be decided first by the assessing authority. Rectification proceedings under section 33 of the Rajasthan Value Added Tax Act, 2003 were therefore not interdicted in writ proceedings. The availability of statutory appeal and revision remedies also weighed against intervention under article 226.

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Issues: Whether the writ petitions challenging the show-cause notice and the connected assessment order were maintainable at the threshold, and whether the rectification proceedings under section 33 of the Rajasthan Value Added Tax Act, 2003 could be interdicted in writ jurisdiction.

Analysis: The dispute involved classification of the contractual arrangement and the applicable rate of exemption fee under the VAT notification, which turned on mixed questions of fact and law requiring examination of the contract terms, surrounding circumstances, and evidence. The Court held that such questions could not be decided at the stage of a challenge to a show-cause notice, particularly when the assessing authority was exercising jurisdiction under section 33 and the petitioner had not even submitted a reply. The Court also noted that the petitioner had an effective statutory remedy under the Act by way of appeal and revision, and that the existence of such remedies weighed against interference under article 226. The Court further held that the controversy whether the contracts were separate or constituted one integrated works contract was an open question fit for adjudication by the assessing authority in the first instance.

Conclusion: The writ petitions were not maintainable at that stage and the challenge to the show-cause notice and the assessment order was rejected.

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