Mohammad Wajid vs. State Tax Officer
Held
The Court held that the writ petition is not maintainable on the ground of alternate remedy. The reasoning is that the petitioner has a statutory remedy of appeal available under Section 107 of the Uttarakhand GST Act. The ratio decidendi is that when a statutory remedy is available, a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution should not be entertained. The operative direction is that the writ petition is dismissed on the ground of alternate remedy, with liberty to the petitioner to approach the appropriate forum. In the peculiar facts and circumstances, it is provided that if the petitioner avails the appellate remedy within ten days from the date of the order, his appeal shall be heard and decided on merits.
Facts
The petitioner has challenged an order dated 21.6.2023, passed by the State Tax Officer, respondent no. 1, under Section 129 of the Uttarakhand GST Act. The petitioner filed a writ petition before the High Court challenging this order. The State counsel raised a preliminary objection regarding the maintainability of the writ petition.
Key Issues
1. Whether the writ petition is maintainable before this Court, given the existence of an alternate statutory remedy? (Question of law) The petitioner's contention is not recorded in the judgment. The State's contention is that the order impugned in the writ petition is appealable under Section 107 of the Uttarakhand GST Act, and therefore, the present writ petition is not maintainable.
Sections Cited
Section 129, Section 107
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
SL. No Date Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or directions and Registrar’s order with Signatures COURT’S OR JUDGES’S ORDERS
WPMS 355/2024 Hon’ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.
Mr. Rohit Arora, Advocate, for the petitioner.
Mr. Suyash Pant, Standing Counsel, for the State.
(2) Petitioner has challenged the order dated 21.6.2023, passed by State Tax Officer (respondent no. 1), under Section 129 of the Uttarakhand GST Act. (3) Learned State Counsel submits that the order impugned in this writ petition is appealable under Section 107 of Uttarakhand GST Act,
therefore the present writ petition is not maintainable. (4) Since petitioner has statutory remedy of appeal under Section 107 of Uttarakhand GST Act, therefore, this writ petition is dismissed on the ground of alternate remedy with liberty to petitioner to approach the appropriate forum. (5) In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, it is provided that if petitioner avails the appellate remedy within ten days from today, his appeal shall be heard and decided on merits.
(Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.)
2024 Pr
The judgment continues below.
Read the full judgment
A free account opens 10 full GST judgments a month (one account works on both bharattax.net and this site). Re-reading one you have already opened does not count again.
The summary, the parties, the sections and the citations above are open to everyone and always will be. Only the text of the order and the PDF are metered.
Reproduced from the public record of the Uttarakhand High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.