Writ jurisdiction cannot bypass an unavailed statutory appeal remedy after the limitation period expires under tax law.

Writ jurisdiction under Article 226 was held unavailable where assessment orders under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 could have been challenged by a statutory appeal that was not filed within the prescribed limitation period. The Court applied the settled principle that an effective appellate remedy should ordinarily be pursued before invoking writ jurisdiction, and that delay beyond the maximum condonable period leaves the challenge without that alternative statutory route. The High Court therefore declined to examine the merits of the assessment dispute and dismissed the writ petitions, leaving the impugned orders undisturbed.

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Issues: Whether writ petitions challenging assessment orders were maintainable when the petitioner had an effective statutory appeal remedy under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 and had not invoked it within the maximum permissible period of limitation.

Analysis: The assessment orders were passed under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 and the statute provided a right of appeal to the appellate authority with power to condone delay only upto the extended period prescribed by law. The petitioner did not prefer any appeal and instead approached the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India after expiry of the maximum limitation period. In view of the settled principle that writ jurisdiction should not ordinarily be exercised where a statutory appeal remedy exists and has been lost by lapse of limitation, the Court declined to examine the merits of the controversy.

Conclusion: The writ petitions were not maintainable and were dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The Court refused to entertain the challenge to the assessment orders because the petitioner had failed to pursue the statutory appellate remedy within time, leaving the impugned orders undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: Writ jurisdiction under Article 226 should not be invoked to bypass a statutory appellate remedy that was available but not pursued within the prescribed limitation period.

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