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TMI Blog1963 (1) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of civil courts to entertain claims like the present. In the result, we must hold that the view taken by the High Court is right and so the appeal fails and is dismissed. - Civil Appeal No. 315 of 1962, - - - Dated:- 25-1-1963 - Judge(s) : B. P. SINHA., P. N. GAJENDRAGADKAR., K. N. WANCHOO., M. HIDAYATULLAH., J. C. SHAH A. Ranganadham Chetty, Senior Advocate (A. Vedavalli and A.V. Rangam, Advocates. with him), for the appellant. D. Narasaraju, Advocate-General for the State of Andhra Pradesh (T.V.R. Tatachari and P.D. Menon, Advocates, with him), for the respondent. JUDGMENT The judgment of the court was delivered by GAJENDRAGADKAR J.- -The short question which arises in this appeal is whether the suit instituted by the appellant firm of Illuri Subbayya Chetty and Sons, in the court of the Subordinate Judge at Kurnool, seeking to recover ₹ 8,349 from the respondent, the State of Andhra Pradesh, on the ground that the said amount had been illegally recovered from it under the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939 (No. IX of 1939) (hereinafter called the Act), for the years 1952-54 is competent or not ; and this question has to be determin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hree principal issues. The first issue was whether the suit was barred by section 18A of the Act ; the second was whether there had been excess collection of sales tax for the two years in question and, if so, how much ? and the third issue was whether the appellant was estopped from questioning the validity of the assessment ? According to the trial court, the respondent had failed to prove its pleas against the appellant's claim and so, it recorded findings in favour of the appellant on all the three issues. In the result, a decree followed in favour of the appellant for the recovery of ₹ 6,558 with interest at 6 per cent. per annum from November 12, 1955, till the date of payment. This decree was challenged by the respondent by preferring an appeal before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. It appeared that the decision of the said High Court in the case of State of Andhra Pradesh v. Sri Krishna Cocoanut Co. was in favour of the view taken by the trial court ; but the respondent urged before the High Court that the said decision was erroneous in law and required reconsideration. That is why the respondent's appeal was placed before a Full Bench of the High Court. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e prohibition contained in this section. The prohibition is express and unambiguous and there can be no doubt on a fair construction of the section that a suit cannot be entertained by a civil court if, by instituting the suit, the plaintiff wants to set aside or modify any assessment made under this Act. There is, therefore, no difficulty in holding that this section excludes the jurisdiction of the civil courts in respect of the suits covered by it. It is, however, urged by Mr. Chetty that if an order of assessment has been made illegally by the appropriate authority purporting to exercise its powers under the Act, such an assessment cannot be said to be an assessment made under this Act. He contends that the words used are any assessment made under this Act and the section does not cover cases of assessment which are purported to have been made under this Act. In support of this argument he has referred us to the provisions of section 17(1) and section 18 where any act done or purporting to be done under this Act is referred to. It would, however, be noticed that having regard to the subject-matter of the provisions contained in sections 17(1) and 18 it was obviously nece ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nal jurisdiction on the authorities specified by it ; section 12A allows an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal ; section 12B provides for a revision by the High Court under the cases specified in it ; section 12C provides for an appeal to the High Court ; and section 12D lays down that petitions, applications and appeals to High Court should be heard by a Bench of not less than two judges. The matter can even be brought to this court by way of a petition under article 136 of the Constitution. It would thus be seen that any dealer, who is aggrieved by an order of assessment passed in respect of his transactions, can avail himself of the remedies provided in that behalf by these sections of the Act. It is in the light of these elaborate alternative remedies provided by the Act that the scope and effect of section 18A must be judged. Thus considered, there can be no doubt that where an order of assessment has been made by an appropriate authority under the provisions of this Act, any challenge to its correctness and any attempt either to have it set aside or modified must be made before the appellate or the revisional forum prescribed by the relevant provisions of the Act. A suit instit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tained in special statutes has been judicially considered on several occasions. We may in this connection refer to two decisions of the Privy Council. In Secretary of State represented by the Collector of South Arcot v. Mask Co., the Privy Council was dealing with the effect of the provisions contained in section 188 of the Sea Customs Act (VIII of 1878). The relevant portion of the said section provides that every order passed in appeal under this section shall, subject to the power of revision conferred by section 1911, be final. Dealing with the question about the effect of this provision, the Privy Council observed that it is settled law that the exclusion of the jurisdiction of the civil courts is not to be readily inferred, but that such exclusion must either be explicitly expressed or clearly implied. Lord Thankerton, who delivered the opinion of the Board, however, proceeded to add that it is also well-settled that even if jurisdiction is so excluded, the civil courts have jurisdiction to examine into cases where the provisions of the Act have not been complied with, or the statutory tribunal has not acted in conformity with the fundamental principles of judicial proced ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... urts the question whether a particular provision of the Income-tax Act bearing on the assessment made is or is not ultra vires. The presence of such machinery, observed the judgment, though by no means conclusive, marches with a construction of the section which denies an alternative jurisdiction to enquire into the same subject-matter. It is true that the judgment shows that the Privy Council took the view that even the constitutional validity of the taxing provision can be challenged by adopting the procedure prescribed by the Income-tax Act ; and this assumption presumably proceeded on the basis that if an assessee wants to challenge the vires of the taxing provision on which an assessment is purported to be made against him, it would be open to him to raise that point before the taxing authority and take it for a decision before the High Court under section 66(1) of the Act. It is not necessary for us to consider whether this assumption is well founded or not. But the presence of the alternative machinery by way of appeals which a particular statute provides to a party aggrieved by the assessment order on the merits, is a relevant consideration and that consideration is satisfi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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