Statutory appellate remedy under GST bars writ relief where liability depends on facts and no exceptional circumstance is shown.

Writ petitions challenging GST demand orders were not maintainable where an efficacious statutory appeal under Section 107 of the CGST Act, 2017 was available and had been specifically indicated in the impugned orders. The court declined to treat the dispute as a pure jurisdictional challenge because liability depended on factual examination of the underlying transactions, and no exceptional circumstance justified bypassing the appellate remedy. The asserted constitutional immunity of municipal bodies from GST was not accepted as a complete bar to tax on every transaction, and there was no direct challenge to the constitutional validity of any provision. The petitioners were relegated to appeal, with liberty to file within time without limitation objections.

---

---

Issues: Whether the writ petitions challenging GST demand orders were maintainable in view of the alternative statutory remedy of appeal under the CGST Act, 2017, and whether the case fell within the exception permitting exercise of writ jurisdiction despite such remedy.

Analysis: The petitioners had an efficacious appellate remedy under Section 107 of the CGST Act, 2017, and the impugned orders had themselves informed them of that remedy. The plea that the orders were wholly without jurisdiction was not accepted, because the controversy depended upon factual examination of the transactions on which GST had been levied. The asserted constitutional immunity of municipal bodies from all GST liability was not treated as a complete bar to taxation on every transaction, and no exceptional circumstance was shown to justify bypassing the statutory appeal. The challenge did not involve a direct attack on the constitutional validity of any provision.

Conclusion: The writ petitions were not entertainable and the petitioners were relegated to the statutory appellate remedy, with liberty to pursue appeals without being met with limitation objections if filed within the stipulated period.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an efficacious statutory appeal is available and the dispute turns on factual determination, writ jurisdiction should not be exercised merely on a claim of lack of jurisdiction, absent exceptional circumstances.

---