Facts of the Case

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (South), New Delhi filed multiple writ petitions before the Delhi High Court against actions initiated by the Income Tax Department. However, in the petitioner’s own case for earlier Assessment Years 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal had already decided the same issue against the petitioner through its order dated 3 August 2016.

Despite the existence of this adverse ITAT order, the petitioner approached the High Court by way of writ petitions without first challenging the ITAT decision.

 Issues Involved

  1. Whether writ petitions under Article 226 are maintainable when the petitioner has not challenged the prior adverse ITAT order on the same issue?
  2. Whether the High Court should entertain writ jurisdiction when statutory appellate remedies remain available?

 Petitioner’s Arguments

  • The petitioner sought judicial intervention against the income tax proceedings affecting its assessment.
  • It attempted to invoke writ jurisdiction for relief in relation to the disputed tax issue.
  • The petitioner sought interim protection through stay applications.

 Respondent’s Arguments

  • The Revenue opposed maintainability of the writ petitions.
  • It argued that the petitioner had an effective statutory remedy against the ITAT order.
  • Since the issue had already been adjudicated against the petitioner in earlier years, the petitioner must first challenge the ITAT order through the prescribed appellate mechanism.

 Court Findings / Observations

The Delhi High Court observed that the issue raised in the present writ petitions had already been decided against the petitioner by the ITAT in earlier assessment years.

The Court held that without challenging the ITAT order dated 3 August 2016, the petitioner could not maintain writ petitions on the same issue.

The Court emphasized the importance of exhausting the statutory appellate mechanism before invoking extraordinary writ jurisdiction.

 Court Order / Final Decision

The Delhi High Court declined to entertain the writ petitions at that stage.

The petitions were disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to revive the challenge after filing and getting entertained an appeal against the ITAT order dated 3 August 2016.

 Important Clarification / Legal Principle

Where an issue has already been adjudicated by the ITAT and decided against the assessee, the High Court may refuse to entertain a writ petition unless the foundational appellate order is first challenged through the proper statutory appellate route.

This decision reinforces the principle of exhaustion of alternative statutory remedies before invoking Article 226 jurisdiction.

Link to download the order -https://delhihighcourt.nic.in/app/case_number_pdf/2017:DHC:8842-DB/SMD06092017CW78492017_152936.pdf

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