Statutory appellate remedy in excise classification disputes can bar writ review while preserving limitation and interim protection.

Where an efficacious statutory appeal is available against an excise classification order, the writ court may decline to examine the merits and direct the party to pursue the appellate remedy. In doing so, it may also protect the appellant's position by excluding the period spent in writ proceedings for limitation purposes and by continuing interim protection for a limited time so that further relief can be sought before the appellate forum. The note concerns classification of MIC Inserts under the Central Excise Tariff and the procedural effect of relegating the dispute to the statutory appellate mechanism without adjudicating the tariff issue.

---

---

Issues: (i) whether the writ petition should be entertained when an appellate remedy was available against the excise order; (ii) whether the period spent in the writ proceedings should be excluded for computing limitation for the appeal, and what interim protection should follow.

Issue (i): Whether the writ petition should be entertained when an appellate remedy was available against the excise order.

Analysis: The controversy concerned classification of MIC Inserts under the Central Excise Tariff, but the dispute was one which the departmental authorities and the appellate tribunal were competent to examine in the first instance. Since the impugned order was appealable and a further view could legitimately be taken by the appellate forum, the writ court declined to adjudicate the classification issue on merits and considered it more appropriate to relegate the petitioner to the statutory appellate remedy.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not entertained on merits and the petitioner was relegated to the appellate remedy, in favour of Revenue.

Issue (ii): Whether the period spent in the writ proceedings should be excluded for computing limitation for the appeal, and what interim protection should follow.

Analysis: As the petitioner had diligently pursued the matter before the writ court and was being sent to the appellate forum at the instance of the respondents' objection, the court granted the equitable relief that the period from the date of the excise order till the date of disposal would stand excluded for limitation purposes. The court also preserved interim protection by continuing the provisional arrangement and stay for a limited period, leaving it open to the petitioner to seek further orders from the appellate tribunal.

Conclusion: The time spent in the writ proceedings was excluded for limitation, and limited interim protection was continued for a short period.

Final Conclusion: The dispute was left to the statutory appellate mechanism, with consequential relief on limitation and temporary protection, and the writ proceeding came to an end without any adjudication on the tariff classification issue.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an efficacious statutory appeal is available against an excise classification order, the writ court may decline to decide the merits and relegate the party to the appellate remedy, while granting consequential relief necessary to protect the right of appeal.

---