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2014 (8) TMI 1205 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxMaintainability of petition - availability of alternative remedy of appeal - Section 45 of the HP VAT Act, 2005 - impugned orders have been issued by the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner-cum-Assessing Authority - when an Act provides mechanism to have remedy (ies), can a writ lie in the given circumstances? - HELD THAT:- The answer is in the negative for the following reasons. It is well settled principle of law that High Courts have imposed rule of self limitation in entertaining the writ petition in terms of writ jurisdiction when alternative remedy is available. High Court must not interfere if there is adequate efficacious alternative remedy available and the practice of approaching the High Court, without availing the remedy (ies) provided, must be deprecated, unless express case is made out. The Apex Court in Nivedita Sharma v. Cellular Operators Association of India, [2011 (12) TMI 536 - SUPREME COURT], after discussing its various earlier decisions, held that the High Court had committed error in entertaining the writ petition without noticing and referring to the relevant provisions of law applicable in that case, which contained statutory remedy of appeal and accordingly set aside the order of the High Court in terms of which the writ petition was entertained. The writ petitioners-Company have remedies of appeal(s), before approaching the High Court by way of the writ petitions, for the redressal of their grievances. The petitioners ought to have exhausted the remedy of appeal before the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner or Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner or the Excise Commissioner, as the case may be, and if the petitioners were not successful in those appeal proceedings, another remedy available to them was to challenge the said order(s) by the medium of appeal before the Tribunal, and again, if they were unsuccessful, they could have availed the remedy of revision before the High Court in terms of Section 48 of the HP VAT Act, 2005 - Keeping in view the discussion made, read with the fact that the dispute raised in these writ petitions relates to revenue/tax matters, it can safely be concluded that the petitioners have sufficient efficacious remedy (ies) available. The writ petitioners have alternative efficacious remedy available and these writ petitions are not maintainable. Accordingly, the same merit to be dismissed in limine - Petition dismissed.
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