Unchallenged assessment orders cannot be collaterally attacked in tax recovery proceedings after the appeal remedy lapses.

An unchallenged assessment order could not be reopened in collateral recovery proceedings after the statutory appeal remedy had lapsed. Even if a jurisdictional objection to the assessment was assumed, the petitioner's failure to challenge the assessment in appeal meant it remained operative and the tax recovery notice issued in continuation of the statutory recovery mechanism could not be resisted on that basis. The stated principle is that an assessment order in force cannot be collaterally impeached at the stage of recovery once the prescribed appellate remedy has not been availed.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner could, at the stage of challenge to the tax recovery notice, question the unchallenged assessment order and the consequential recovery proceedings.

Analysis: The assessment order had not been challenged in appeal and remained in force. Even assuming a jurisdictional objection to the assessment, the petitioner having allowed the statutory appellate remedy to lapse could not, at the stage of service of the tax recovery notice, reopen the assessment or resist the recovery action founded upon it. The recovery notice was stated to have been issued in continuation of the statutory recovery mechanism under the Odisha Value Added Tax Act and the relevant recovery schedule.

Conclusion: The challenge to the assessment order and the consequential tax recovery notice was not entertained.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed because the petitioner was precluded from assailing the unappealed assessment order in collateral recovery proceedings.

Ratio Decidendi: An unchallenged assessment order cannot be collaterally impeached in recovery proceedings after the statutory appeal remedy has not been availed.

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