Facts of the Case

M/s. Maa Chandi Stone Crushing, a business entity based at Bhubaneswar, Odisha, approached the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack under Article 226 of the Constitution, impleading the Union of India and others as opposite parties, with the Standing Counsel for the CT & GST Organization appearing for the tax authorities. The writ petition assailed an order passed under the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017/Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 framework, which the Court's order itself describes only as an "appealable" order. The matter was taken up through hybrid mode on 08.11.2023. The order does not set out the petitioner's GSTIN, the specific demand, the amount involved, or any detailed procedural history preceding the writ, the record being confined to the fact that an appeal lay against the impugned order.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether a writ petition under Article 226 is maintainable against a GST order in respect of which a statutory appellate remedy is available.
  2. Whether the High Court should examine the order on merits or relegate the petitioner to the appellate forum.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The petitioner invoked the writ jurisdiction of the High Court to challenge the order rather than first pursuing the departmental appellate channel.
  • No further grounds of challenge are recorded in the order, the disposal having occurred at the threshold on the question of maintainability.

Respondent's Arguments

  • The Standing Counsel for the CT & GST Organization appeared and the order records that the impugned order was an appealable one, implying that an efficacious alternate statutory remedy was available to the petitioner.
  • No writ court interference was warranted where the statutory appellate mechanism under the GST law remained unexhausted.

Court Order/Findings

  • Since the order impugned was an appealable order, the Court declined to entertain the writ petition on merits and relegated the petitioner to the statutory appellate remedy.
  • Liberty was granted to the petitioner to pursue its remedy before the appropriate appellate forum in accordance with law.
  • The writ petition was disposed of granting the aforesaid liberty, without any observation on the merits of the underlying tax dispute.

Important Clarification

Where a GST order carries a statutory right of appeal, the High Court will ordinarily decline to exercise its extraordinary writ jurisdiction and will relegate the assessee to the appellate authority, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the demand — leaving the taxpayer free to raise every ground of challenge before the appellate authority within the applicable limitation.

Sections Involved

  • Section 107, Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 / Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — provides the statutory appeal against orders passed by adjudicating authorities.
  • Article 226, Constitution of India — confers writ jurisdiction on High Courts, ordinarily not exercised where an alternate efficacious remedy exists.

Decision – In Favour of

This is a purely procedural disposal and not a decision on merits. The Court did not examine or disturb the impugned order; it merely declined jurisdiction on the ground of an available appellate remedy and granted liberty to the petitioner to pursue that remedy. The outcome cannot honestly be classified as a substantive win for either the Assessee or the Department — it is best described as disposed of with liberty to appeal, the underlying tax dispute remaining entirely open for adjudication by the appellate authority.

Related Case Laws

No directly on-point case notes are currently published on this site.

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Orissa at Cuttack
  • Case No.: W.P.(C) No. 35261 of 2023
  • CNR: Not available
  • Coram: Acting Chief Justice Dr. B.R. Sarangi and Justice Murahari Sri Raman
  • Decision Date: 08.11.2023
  • Disposal Nature: Disposed of; liberty granted to pursue statutory appellate remedy

Link to Download the Order

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