Anr vs The Kolkata Municipal on 18 September, 2025
8. That apart, we may also usefully refer to the decisions of
this Court reported in (1977) 2 SCC 724 (State of Uttar Pradesh &
ors. vs. Indian Hume Pipe Co. Ltd.) and (2000) 10 SCC 482 (Union of
India vs. State of Haryana). What appears on a plain reading of the
former decision is that whether a certain item falls within an entry
in a sales tax statute, raises a pure question of law and if
investigation into facts is unnecessary, the high court could
entertain a writ petition in its discretion even though the alternative
remedy was not availed of; and, unless exercise of discretion is
6
shown to be unreasonable or perverse, this Court would not
interfere. In the latter decision, this Court found the issue raised by
the appellant to be pristinely legal requiring determination by the
high court without putting the appellant through the mill of
statutory appeals in the hierarchy. What follows from the said
decisions is that where the controversy is a purely legal one and it
does not involve disputed questions of fact but only questions of law,
then it should be decided by the high court instead of dismissing the
writ petition on the ground of an alternative remedy being available.