Statutory appellate remedy prevails when available, leaving Section 7-A challenges and vires objections to the Tribunal.

A newly introduced statutory appeal under Section 7-D provided an efficacious remedy against the Section 7-A order, including jurisdictional objections, so the challenge was to be pursued before the Appellate Tribunal rather than examined on merits in the pending proceedings. The earlier vires objection no longer survived once the appeal mechanism and functioning Tribunal were available, and it became academic. The Supreme Court also treated the High Court's prior observations on the merits as having no legal consequence and directed the Tribunal to decide the matter independently on its own merits, leaving the Section 7-A dispute to the statutory appellate forum.

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Issues: Whether, after the amendment introducing a statutory appeal under Section 7-D, the challenge to the order under Section 7-A and the related writ proceedings should be entertained on merits or the appellant should be relegated to the statutory appellate remedy, and whether the earlier vires challenge survived.

Analysis: The availability of a newly created statutory appeal before the Appellate Tribunal changed the remedial landscape and provided an efficacious forum for assailing the Section 7-A order, including jurisdictional objections. In that situation, the challenge that the absence of an appeal rendered Section 7-A vulnerable no longer survived, and the vires objection became academic. As the Tribunal was already constituted and functioning, the proper course was to require the appellant to pursue the statutory remedy rather than have the merits of the Section 7-A order examined in these proceedings. The earlier observations of the High Court on the merits were held to be of no legal consequence, and the Tribunal was directed to decide the matter independently on its own merits.

Conclusion: The appellant was relegated to the statutory appeal under Section 7-D, the merits of the Section 7-A order were left to the Tribunal, and the related appeals stood disposed of accordingly.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory appellate remedy becomes available during the pendency of proceedings, the Court may decline to adjudicate the merits or vires challenge and direct the aggrieved party to pursue that statutory remedy, leaving the issue to be decided afresh by the appellate tribunal.

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