Alternate statutory remedy bars writ challenge to revised VAT assessment; petitioner may still pursue appeal with time exclusion.

A writ petition challenging a revised assessment under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 was held not maintainable because an efficacious statutory appeal was available under Section 51. The assessment had been made under Section 27(1) after notice and opportunity to respond, and the court treated the alternate remedy rule as operating with greater force in fiscal matters. The petitioner was left free to pursue the appellate remedy, and the time spent in writ proceedings could be excluded for that purpose, with any delay to be considered by the appellate authority on its own merits.

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Issues: Whether the writ petition challenging a revised assessment order under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 was maintainable in view of the efficacious statutory appeal under Section 51 of the Act, and whether protection could be granted to enable the petitioner to pursue the alternate remedy.

Analysis: The impugned revised assessment order was passed under Section 27(1) of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 after issuance of notice and opportunity to respond. The principal challenge concerned the adequacy of reasoning in the assessment order, but the controlling question became the availability of an alternate statutory remedy. In fiscal matters, the rule of alternate remedy operates with greater rigour, and writ jurisdiction is ordinarily not invoked when the statute provides an effective appellate mechanism. The statutory appeal under Section 51 of the Act was available, and the Court also noted that the period spent in the writ proceedings could be excluded for the purpose of pursuing that remedy, with condonation of delay, if required, to be considered by the appellate authority on its own merits.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable in the face of the statutory appeal and was dismissed. The petitioner was left free to pursue the alternate appellate remedy, with the benefit of exclusion of time for the period spent in the writ proceedings.

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