The jurisdiction of the Civil Court is excluded in cases where the matter is decided under a statute which provides a specific machinery for the determination of disputes.

Kapur, J.

1. This is a petition brought by firm Dharam Chand-Kishore Chand of New Delhi asking for an appropriate writ against the State of the Punjab and the Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Jullundur, for quashing the order passed by the latter dated the 5th December 1951 and for the issue of a writ of prohibition against the respondents not to proceed with the realization of the sales tax from the petitioners.

2. The allegations of the petitioners are that they entered into a contract for the supply of firewood to the Royal Indian Army Service Corps on the 19th of March 1949. This supply was to be made for one year from the 1st of April 1949 to the 31st of March 1950. During the period of their contract, the East Punjab Sales Tax Act was in force. The petitioners applied to the assessing authority, the Excise and Taxation Officer, Ambala, that they were not liable to. payment of sales tax but this application was refused. They then applied to the Taxation Officer to move the Excise and Taxation Commissioner under Section 18 of the Act to determine this question but he refused and they consequently made an application on the 25th August 1951. The petition was admitted by Mr. Harivansh Lal Khanna who was then the Taxation Commissioner, but the matter came up before Mr. Varma who succeeded Mr. Khanna on the formers retirement. Mr. Varma, it is alleged, without giving any opportunity to the petitioners dismissed their petition and this is enclosure E. This order was in the form of a memorandum and stated as follows: "Memorandum. The transactions alluded to by you in the application are NOT covered by the proviso to Sub-Section (1) of Section 4 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 and they are, therefore, taxable under the said Act." The petitioners submit that there is no other appropriate remedy available to them and they ask for a writ of certiorari against the respondents.

3. It is necessary to refer to certain provisions of the Act for the determination of the matter in controversy. The Act received the assent of the Governor on the 15th November 1948 and it is Act No. XLVI of 1948. It was published in the Government Gazette on the 20th November 1948. It was to come into force as from the 1st of May 1949.

4. The relevant provisions of the Act are: "2(c) contract means any agreement for carrying out for cash or deferred payment or other valuable consideration--(i) the construction, fitting out, improvement or repair of any building, road, bridge or other immovable property; or (ii) the installation or repair of any machinery affixed to a building or other immovable property; or (iii) the overhaul or repair of any motor vehicle."

"2(e) goods means all kinds of movable property other than actionable claims, stocks, shares or securities, and includes all materials, articles & commodities, whether or not to be used in the construction, fitting out, improvement or repair of immovable property."

"4(1) Subject to the provisions of Ss. 5 and 6, every dealer except one dealing exclusively in goods declared tax-free under Section 6 whose gross turnover during the year immediately preceding the commencement of this Act exceeded the taxable quantum shall be liable to pay tax under this Act on all sales effected after the coming into force of this Act: Provided that the tax shall not be payable on sales involved in the execution of a contract which is shown to the satisfaction of the assessing authority to have been entered into before the commencement of this Act."

"5(2) In this Act, the expression taxable turnover means that part of a dealers gross turnover during any period which remains after deducting therefrom (a) his turnover during that period on: (iii) sales to any railway or water transport administration and to the Ministry of Industry and Supply of the Government of India." This provision was added by Act 35 of 1949 which was published in the Gazette on the 9th November 1949 and therefore it was not in the origi