Mandamus for tax investigation fails where private matrimonial allegations are disputed and no enforceable legal right is shown.

Article 226 writ jurisdiction cannot be used to compel the Income Tax Department to investigate alleged cash transactions arising from a matrimonial dispute when no enforceable statutory or fundamental right is shown. The requested mandamus was based on contested private allegations and disputed facts, and the complaint was not shown to have been made under any statutory scheme of the Income-tax Act, 1961. As the relief would require a roving inquiry into hotly contested matters, the High Court held that the writ petition was not maintainable and rejected the request for investigation.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a mandamus to compel the Income Tax Department to investigate alleged cash transactions and verify the financial affairs of private parties arising out of a matrimonial dispute is maintainable.

Analysis: The relief sought was founded on a private matrimonial feud and turned on hotly contested facts. The claimed non-response to the petitioner's complaint did not disclose infringement of any fundamental, statutory, civil, or other enforceable right. The complaint was not shown to have been made under any statutory scheme under the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the writ jurisdiction could not be invoked to compel the department to undertake a roving or fishing inquiry into disputed allegations.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable and the request for investigation was rejected.

Final Conclusion: Article 226 jurisdiction cannot be used to require a tax authority to investigate private disputes involving disputed facts in the absence of a clearly identifiable legal right.

Ratio Decidendi: A writ of mandamus will not lie to compel investigation into contested private allegations where no enforceable statutory or fundamental right is shown and the relief would require a roving inquiry into disputed questions of fact.

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