Writ interference with tax show-cause notice refused where inter-State sale dispute turned on contested facts and statutory reply was available.

A tax show-cause notice will not ordinarily be quashed in writ jurisdiction where the dispute turns on contested facts and mixed questions of fact and law, such as whether a transaction was inter-State or intra-State and the effect of a commission-agent arrangement. Because the assessee had an opportunity to reply and the assessing authority was the proper forum for first-instance fact-finding, the High Court declined interference at the threshold. Mere assertion of lack of jurisdiction was insufficient where the notice was not ex facie without jurisdiction. The order relegating the assessees to the statutory forum was therefore upheld.

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Issues: Whether the High Court should interfere under writ jurisdiction with a show-cause notice in a tax matter where the controversy whether the transaction was an inter-State sale or an intra-State sale turned on disputed facts and the assessee had an opportunity to reply before the assessing authority.

Analysis: The dispute depended on the genuineness and effect of the commission-agent arrangement and on factual determination of the nature of the purchase and movement of goods. Such a question was treated as a mixed question of fact and law, not fit for determination for the first time in writ proceedings. The availability of a statutory opportunity to submit a reply to the notice and have the assessing authority decide the issue first weighed against interference. In tax matters, the writ court would ordinarily not interdict a notice at the threshold unless the notice was ex facie without jurisdiction, and mere assertion of want of jurisdiction was insufficient where factual inquiry was required.

Conclusion: The show-cause notice was not liable to be quashed in writ jurisdiction and the assessees were required to pursue their reply before the assessing authority.

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed, and the order relegating the appellants to the statutory forum for the first instance determination of the disputed tax issue was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A tax show-cause notice will not be interfered with in writ jurisdiction where the objection depends on disputed facts and the notice is not shown to be wholly without jurisdiction on its face.

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