Statutory bar on civil suits against tax assessments applies even where the assessee alleges the assessment is illegal on merits.

Section 18A of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939 barred a civil suit to recover tax alleged to have been illegally collected because it prohibited any suit or proceeding to set aside or modify an assessment made under the Act. The phrase covered assessments made by the competent authority under statutory powers, even if the assessee claimed the assessment was erroneous or illegal on merits. The existence of appellate and revisional remedies showed that challenges to assessment orders had to be pursued within the statutory framework. Failure to use those remedies, including after filing voluntary returns, did not permit resort to civil court. A civil action was therefore excluded by the statutory bar.

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Issues: Whether a civil suit to recover tax alleged to have been illegally collected could lie in view of the bar contained in section 18A of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939.

Analysis: Section 18A expressly prohibits any suit or other proceeding, except as expressly provided in the Act, to set aside or modify an assessment made under the Act. The expression "assessment made under this Act" was held to cover assessments made by the competent authority in exercise of statutory powers, whether or not the assessment was alleged to be erroneous or illegal on merits. The availability of a detailed appellate and revisional machinery under the Act was treated as a significant indication that the legislature intended challenges to assessment orders to be pursued only within that framework. The fact that the assessee had filed voluntary returns and had not pursued the statutory remedies did not enable it to bypass the special procedure and invoke the civil court's jurisdiction. The civil suit was therefore within the mischief of the statutory bar.

Conclusion: The suit was barred by section 18A and could not be maintained in a civil court.

Final Conclusion: The statutory scheme excluded a civil action to question the assessment, and the challenge to the tax recovery had to be pursued only through the remedies provided by the taxing statute.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing statute expressly bars suits to set aside or modify an assessment made under it and provides an alternative appellate or revisional mechanism, a civil court cannot entertain a suit merely because the assessee alleges the assessment to be wrong or illegal on merits.

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