KOTA BOX MANUFACTURING CO Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal under section 18 of the Rajasthan High Court Ordinance against the judgment of a learned single Judge of this Court dismissing the writ petition of the appellants.

(2.) THE short point pressed before us in this appeal relates to the correctness of the view taken by the learned single judge that since the assessees in the instant case can raise the objections in respect of the reassessment of sales tax before the taxation authority and then if necessary file an appeal, this Court should not interfere under article 226 of the Constitution. THE question which was raised before the learned single Judge related to the meaning of the packing material for which notice under section 12 was issued to the petitioner-appellant. THE learned single Judge was of the view that the petitioner has got ample opportunity to appear before the assessing authority and to raise all the contentions before him and then there is a complete machinery of appeal and revision under the Act. In this view of the matter the learned Judge refused to entertain the writ petition against the issuing of notice under section 12 as he was of the opinion that the assessing authority had jurisdiction to issue such notice and other questions about the correctness or propriety of the proposed reassessment, the assessing authority would decide them after hearing the assessee. In this connection reliance was placed by learned single Judge on the judgment of this court in Bhanwarlal Binjaram v. Assistant Commercial Taxes Officer, Jodhpur 1976 WLN (UC) 459, in which it was held that " the Sales Tax Act has a complete machinery and hierarchy of Tribunals where these questions can be agitated".

(3.) IN the instant case we are in agreement with the view of the learned single Judge that there was no patent lack of jurisdiction of the assessing authority in issuing notice under section 12 of the Act. We are also in agreement with the view of the learned single Judge that these objections can be raised before him in respect of the interpretation to be put on the packing material and other words and if the reassessment is done rejecting those objections a remedy is there in the Sales Tax Act. The fact that earlier an appeal was filed and relief was granted, may be to an extent as now pointed out by Shri Jain, further shows that adjudication should be left to the assessing authorities and normally we should not lose that jurisdiction by exercising the extraordinary jurisdiction under article 226 of the Constitution. Under article 226 of the Constitution, whether the petitioner can have any effective, efficacious, alternate remedy, is a self imposed restriction by the courts and there are very good, sound, judicial reasons for it. We are, therefore, not inclined to take a different view in the matter than the one taken by the learned single judge. The mere fact that a reference is pending in some other case cannot be a ground for prohibiting the assessing authorities from interpreting the relevant provisions according to the existing law of the land and framing all the matters of such interpretation to flout the dockets of this court. Shri P. C. Jain submits that the assessing authorities are not acting according to the judgment of the Deputy Commissioner given earlier for the year 1973-74 on the ground that the State has filed a revision. He prays that a direction may be given to the assessing authority to act according to the judgment of the Deputy Commissioner.