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1964 (10) TMI 6 - SC - Income TaxWhether the High Court should have dismissed the writ petition in exercise of its discretion as the question raised by the 1st respondent involved complicated questions of fact and law which could not be satisfactorily disposed of in a summary proceeding under article 226 of the Constitution? Whether on the facts stated and omitted to be stated in the affidavit, no right to relief was disclosed and, therefore, the High Court should have dismissed the petition in limine? Whether either on the basis of the existence of a will or on the basis of intestacy, the notices served on E. D. Sadanandan on behalf of all the legal representatives of late S. P. Sadanandan were sufficient to sustain the assessment against the estate of S. P. Sadanandan? Whether in any view, the order of assessment would be effective against E. D. Sadanandan, and the order of the High Court couched in very wide language should be clarified so as to confine it only to the claim of the 1st respondent? Held that:- This court has held in more than one decision that the existence of an alternative remedy is no ground for refusing to issue an appropriate writ under article 226 of the Constitution if fundamental rights are affected. The High Court, therefore, rightly disposed of the petition on merits. Except the affidavit filed by the Income-tax Officer, which is vague to the extreme, and that filed by the respondent, which is equally unhelpful, no material has been placed before us. The records of the income-tax proceedings on which the learned judges of the High Court have fully drawn upon are also not available to us. On the scanty material it is impossible to come to any definite conclusion on any of the points posed by us. We, therefore, with some reluctance, set aside the order of the High Court and remand the matter to it for fresh disposal. The parties will have opportunity to file fresh affidavits and to place all the relevant material before the High Court to enable it to come to a definite conclusion
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