Statutory appeal and limitation exclusion applied to preserve challenge against an order in original under tax law.

An order in original under the Finance Act, 1994 was treated as an appealable order under Section 85, so the affected party was directed to pursue the statutory appellate remedy rather than continue in writ proceedings. The time spent in the writ petition, together with the period protected by the Supreme Court's limitation-extension orders from 15.03.2020 to 02.10.2021, was to be excluded for limitation purposes. A certified copy of the order in original was to be supplied within a fixed time to enable filing of the appeal, and coercive action was kept in abeyance to prevent prejudice while the statutory remedy was pursued.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner should be relegated to the appellate remedy against the order in original, with exclusion of the period spent in writ proceedings and the period covered by the extension of limitation orders, and whether coercive steps should be kept in abeyance to enable filing of the appeal.

Analysis: The writ petition arose from a challenge to a show cause notice and a demand notice after the petitioner had already obtained a discharge certificate under the Sabka Vishwas scheme. The order in original referred to in the demand was held to be an appealable order under Section 85 of the Finance Act, 1994. In view of the Supreme Court's extension of limitation, the period from 15.03.2020 till 02.10.2021 stood protected, and the period during which the writ petition remained pending was also directed to be excluded for limitation purposes. Since the petitioner was to be given a certified copy of the order in original to pursue the statutory appeal, no prejudice was found to the respondents.

Conclusion: The petitioner was directed to pursue the appellate remedy, the relevant periods were ordered to be excluded for limitation, and a certified copy of the order in original was to be issued within a fixed time.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was disposed of by preserving the petitioner's statutory right of appeal and granting incidental protection to enable effective recourse to that remedy.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an efficacious statutory appeal is available, the writ court may direct the party to pursue that remedy while excluding the time spent in protected or pending proceedings for limitation purposes.

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