Statutory appellate remedy bars writ challenge to VAT assessment orders where disputed legal and factual issues can be corrected on appeal.

An efficacious statutory appellate hierarchy under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 ordinarily bars recourse to writ jurisdiction against assessment orders, and alleged erroneous application of the amended input tax credit provision or jurisdictional error can be examined by the appellate authority. The Madras High Court emphasised that the statutory remedy is the rule and writ intervention is only an exceptional course, particularly where disputed factual and legal issues arise from assessment records. The writ petitions were therefore held not maintainable without first exhausting the appellate remedy, and the petitioners were directed to pursue that remedy.

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Issues: Whether writ petitions challenging assessment orders under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 could be entertained without exhausting the statutory appellate remedy on the ground of alleged erroneous application of the amended input tax credit provision and jurisdictional error.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under Sections 51, 58, 59 and 60 of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 provides a complete hierarchy of appeal and revision. The availability of an effective alternate remedy is the rule, while invocation of writ jurisdiction without exhausting that remedy is only an exception in exceptional circumstances. Questions relating to application of the correct provision, jurisdictional error, and other legal grounds can be examined by the appellate authority, which is competent to reappreciate the assessment records and render findings. The writ court is not to replace that statutory forum in routine cases, especially where disputed factual and legal issues arising from assessment orders are involved.

Conclusion: The writ petitions were not maintainable without first pursuing the statutory appellate remedy, and the petitioners were directed to avail that remedy.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an efficacious statutory appellate remedy exists under the tax enactment, writ jurisdiction should not be invoked to bypass that remedy except in exceptional circumstances, and even alleged jurisdictional errors ordinarily remain correctable by the appellate authority.

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