Constitution Art. 226

Constitution Art. 226 — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section Constitution Art. 226, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

• Godrej Sara Lee Ltd v Excise and Taxation Officer Supreme CourtHelps taxpayer
  The High Court dismissed my writ saying an appeal was available. Was it entitled to do that without looking at the point?
  It depends, and the Supreme Court drew the distinction that matters. Maintainability goes to the root — it decides whether the court can receive the case at all. Entertainability is discretion. The mere availability of an appeal or revision that the petitioner has not pursued does not oust the High Court's jurisdiction or make the writ petition 'not maintainable', and where the challenge is to the very jurisdiction of the authority, or is a pure question of law, the petition deserves consideration on merits.
• CIT v Chhabil Dass Agarwal Supreme CourtHelps department
  Can I go straight to the High Court against an income-tax order instead of filing the statutory appeal?
  Ordinarily no. The Supreme Court held that the Income-tax Act supplies a complete machinery for assessment and reassessment, and an assessee cannot abandon that machinery and invoke Article 226. The exceptions are narrow and have to be pleaded and made out — an order passed otherwise than in accordance with the enactment, in defiance of fundamental principles of judicial procedure, under repealed provisions, or in total violation of natural justice.
• Meera Pandey v UOI High CourtHelps taxpayerValidity unconfirmed
  A benami show-cause and attachment have come on the strength of one contractor's statement. Can I go to the High Court now?
  Yes. The Allahabad High Court quashed both the s.24(1) notice and the provisional attachment where the Initiating Officer's whole case was a contractor's statement with no supporting material. It held that s.24(1) requires two things — material in the officer's possession, and material sufficient to cause a reason to believe — and that "reason to believe" is a stronger standard than "is satisfied" or "reason to suspect".

Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.