Tvl. Deepalakshmi Coirs Vs Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Madras High Court)
The Madras High Court disposed of a writ petition challenging an assessment order dated 26 February 2025 issued by the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes. The petitioner had earlier received a show cause notice and had submitted a reply. Subsequently, the assessment order was uploaded on the website on 26 February 2025. However, the petitioner did not avail the statutory appellate remedy within the prescribed period.
During the hearing, the petitioner relied on earlier judgments and requested that the Court permit filing of an appeal against the assessment order subject to additional conditions, including deposit of an amount beyond the mandatory 10% pre-deposit normally required for filing an appeal. The State contended that the petitioner had allowed the assessment order to become final by not filing an appeal within the limitation period. It was argued that when the statutory scheme provides an appellate remedy with a specified limitation period and outer condonable limit, the High Court under Article 226 cannot enlarge the limitation period or interfere with the order on merits.
The Court noted the settled legal position that statutory limitation periods cannot ordinarily be extended by the Court and that orders subject to a statutory appeal mechanism should not be challenged directly under Article 226 when the remedy has not been pursued. However, the Court considered certain distinguishing factors in the present case. The disputed tax liability was ₹2,58,952 and the petitioner was described as a small taxpayer. Additionally, the assessment order had been served only through deemed service under Section 169(1)(d) of the Act by making it available on the common portal.
