Alternative statutory remedy bars writ challenge to VAT assessment order where an effective appeal is available.

A writ petition under Article 226 challenging an assessment order under the M.P. VAT Act was held not maintainable because the statute provided an efficacious alternative appeal under Section 46(1). Where a fiscal assessment order is appealable and no exceptional ground justifies bypassing that remedy, writ jurisdiction will ordinarily not be invoked. The petitioner was left to pursue the statutory appellate remedy in accordance with law, and the challenge to the assessment order did not succeed.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India was maintainable against an assessment order passed under Section 20(5) of the M.P. Vat Act, 2002 when an efficacious statutory appeal lay under Section 46(1) of the M.P. Vat Act, 2002.

Analysis: The impugned assessment arose under a fiscal statute, and the order challenged before the Court was one for which the statute provided an appellate mechanism. In the absence of any exceptional ground warranting bypass of the statutory remedy, the availability of an effective appeal barred recourse to writ jurisdiction. The Court, therefore, declined interference and left it open to the petitioner to avail the appellate remedy in accordance with law.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable in view of the alternative efficacious statutory remedy, and the challenge to the assessment order failed.

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