Sailaja Commercial Construction Private Ltd. Vs Union of India (Gauhati High Court)
The Gauhati High Court dismissed the intra-court appeal challenging the dismissal of a writ petition against an Order-in-Original imposing Service Tax demand of ₹3,48,03,981 along with penalties under Sections 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. The Single Bench had declined to entertain the writ petition on the ground that the petitioner had an effective statutory remedy of appeal. The Division Bench upheld this view, holding that the availability of a statutory appeal made the writ petition not maintainable in the absence of any exceptional circumstances. The Court rejected the argument that the statutory pre-deposit requirement rendered the appellate remedy ineffective, observing that mere pre-deposit does not make the statutory remedy inefficacious. Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Assistant Commissioner of State Tax v. Commercial Steel Limited, the Court dismissed the appeal as devoid of merit.
The Gauhati High Court upheld the dismissal of a writ petition challenging a Service Tax demand and penalties, holding that the petitioner had an effective statutory remedy of appeal. The Court found that the requirement of making a statutory pre-deposit does not render the appellate remedy ineffective or justify bypassing the statutory appeal mechanism. Referring to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Assistant Commissioner of State Tax v. Commercial Steel Limited, the Court observed that writ jurisdiction should ordinarily not be exercised against appealable orders unless recognised exceptions exist. As no such exception was established, the intra-court appeal was dismissed.
