Civil suit bar under the Income-tax Act applies where statutory remedies exist and the plaint would nullify tax proceedings.

Section 293 of the Income-tax Act bars civil court interference with proceedings taken under the Act where the suit would set aside or modify those proceedings or orders. The plaint must be examined by its substance, not its form, and if the assessee has an appellate remedy under the Act, a civil suit challenging the income-tax authorities' action is not maintainable. On that basis, the earlier refusal to reject the plaint under Order 7 Rule 11 CPC was held unsustainable, the civil revision was allowed, and the suit was dismissed as barred.

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Issues: Whether a civil suit challenging proceedings and orders under the Income-tax Act, 1961 was barred by Section 293 and therefore liable to be rejected under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Analysis: Section 293 gives wide protection to proceedings taken under the Income-tax Act and bars civil court interference where the suit would have the effect of setting aside or modifying such proceedings or orders. The nature of the plaint, rather than its form, is decisive. Since the assessee had an appellate remedy under the Act against the impugned action of the income-tax authorities, the civil suit could not be maintained. The earlier rejection of the application under Order 7 Rule 11 was therefore unsustainable.

Conclusion: The bar under Section 293 applied, the suit was not maintainable, and the revisionist succeeded.

Final Conclusion: The civil revision was allowed, the order refusing rejection of the plaint was set aside, and the suit was dismissed as not maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Income-tax Act provides a complete statutory remedy and expressly bars civil suits in relation to proceedings taken under the Act, a civil suit that would directly or indirectly nullify such proceedings is not maintainable.

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