1997 (10) TMI 373

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....to section 19 of the said Act. The learned counsel for the assessee also endorsed this stand. We have gone through the provisions of the Act as also the decision of the Division Bench. Section 15 of the Act stipulates that no writ shall lie in the High Court to set aside or modify any proceeding or order taken or made by the appropriate authority. Section 14 of the Act provides that on and from the appointed date, no court except the Supreme Court shall have or be entitled to exercise any jurisdiction, powers or authority in relation to matters specified in the specified State Acts. Though section 18 of the Act provides for an overriding effect to the provisions of the said Act, it is only to the extent of any inconsistency with any other l....

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....st orders passed under section 34 of the very same Act, to be heard and disposed of by virtue of section 39 by a Bench of not less than two Judges. The provisions of the Special Tribunal Act, particularly section 19, when it postulates transfer of appeal, it could mean and in our view, shall be held to have meant to refer only such appeals filed under section 37 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act and which were pending on the appointed day and not referable to writ appeals filed under clause 15 of the Letters Patent against a final order already passed on a writ petition which was finally disposed of by a learned single Judge of this Court, in exercise of his powers of Judicial Review under article 226/227 of the Constitution of India.....

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....also unable to appreciate or approve of the course adopted by the Division Bench in making an observation that when the writ appeals are transferred, the writ petition themselves in substance are transferred to the Special Tribunal and the same has to decide the matters as a court of first instance, inasmuch as the final orders passed already on the writ petition cannot be said to have been nullified or voided by any provisions in the Special Tribunal Act and no such powers could be claimed to be either possessed or be attributed to be possessed by the State Legislature. Consequently, in our considered view, the decision of the Division Bench dated July 21, 1997 in W.A. Nos. 1471 and 1482 of 1993 does not lay down the correct position of la....