High Court Of Bombay
Emar Hotels & Investments (P) Ltd. vs. Tax Recovery Officer &Ors.
Section IT Sch. II, R. 11, Art. 226
H.L. Gokhale & J.P. Devadhar, JJ.
Writ Petn. No. 2301 of 2006
16th October, 2006
Counsel Appeared :
F. Andhyarujina with Pramod Kumar Parida, for the Petitioner : R.M. Sharma, for the Respondents
JUDGMENT
By the court :
Heard Mr. Andhyarujina in support of this petition. Mr. Sharma appears for the respondents.
2. The premises being office Nos. 101 and 106 situated in Persepolis Premises at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, are the subject-matter of this petition. One Mr. K.N. Marathe who was earlier director of Emar Hotels is in tax arrears. This hotel is stated to be owning the aforesaid premises which are attached for the tax dues of Mr. K.N. Marathe by issuing an order under s. 220(2) of the IT Act. Thereafter, a garnishee notice is issued under s. 226(3) of the Act to M/s Bajaj Allianz to whom these flats have been let out and they are directed to pay the rent payable to the TRO.
3. This order dt. 7th Jan., 2005 was objected to by the petitioner, which objections have been considered and an order has been passed under r. 11(5) of Sch. II of the IT Rules (sic–Act) on 15th April, 2005. The objections lodged by the petitioner have been rejected by that order and it is this order which is challenged in the present petition. Mr. Andhyarujina, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has many things to say to challenge this order. However, what we notice is that as against the rejection of this objection, remedy by way of filing a suit is available under cl. (6) of the abovereferred r. 11. This sub-cl. (6) reads as follows : “Where a claim or an objection is preferred, the party against whom an order is made may institute a suit in Civil Court to establish the right which he claims to the property in dispute; but, subject to the result of such suit (if any), the order of the TRO shall be conclusive.”
4. In view of availability of this alternative remedy, in our view, the proper course for the petitioner is to file a suit. When an effective alternative remedy is available to the party, the writ Court is normally not expected to interfere.
5. For the reasons stated above, we decline to entertain this petition. The petition is dismissed with no order as to costs.
[Citation : 288 ITR 308]
