Civil court jurisdiction remains available for a sales tax refund suit where no assessment, interest, or penalty order exists.

Section 22 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act barred civil court challenges only to assessments or other orders passed under the Act, and Section 23 applied only to assessment, interest, or penalty orders. Because the refund suit did not arise from any such order, and the Act did not provide an applicable statutory remedy, the ordinary civil jurisdiction under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure remained available. The Court therefore held that the civil court could entertain the suit for refund of sales tax, and the bar under Sections 22 and 23 did not apply.

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Issues: Whether the civil court's jurisdiction to entertain a suit for refund of sales tax was barred by Section 22 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act in the absence of an assessment order, order directing payment of interest, or order imposing penalty, and whether Section 23 of that Act provided an alternative remedy.

Analysis: Section 22 bars challenge in civil court to assessments or orders passed under the Act and the rules, subject to the statutory scheme of appeal and revision. Section 23 is attracted only to the specified categories of orders, namely assessment, interest, or penalty orders. The dispute before the Court was not one arising from any such order. Applying the settled principle under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 that civil jurisdiction is excluded only when the statute expressly or impliedly bars it, the Court held that the OST Act did not provide a remedy applicable to the claim for refund in the present facts. The authorities relied on by the appellants were distinguished on facts, as those cases involved assessment or refund-related orders within the statutory appellate or revisional framework.

Conclusion: The civil court had jurisdiction to entertain the suit, and the bar under Sections 22 and 23 of the Orissa Sales Tax Act did not apply.

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