The Orissa High Court directed the Odisha Sales Tax Tribunal (OSTT) to expeditiously hear and decide a pending second appeal filed by Paradeep Phosphates Ltd., including the issue relating to the jurisdiction of the assessing authority under the Odisha Entry Tax Act, 1999. The Division Bench comprising Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo and Justice M.S. Raman observed that, in light of the subsequent disposal of the proceedings before the NCLAT, there was no reason for the Tribunal to defer adjudication of the appeal any further.

The dispute arose from an assessment framed under Section 10 of the Odisha Entry Tax Act, which was subsequently set aside by the first appellate authority with a direction for fresh assessment. Challenging the appellate order, the assessee filed a second appeal before the Odisha Sales Tax Tribunal.

During the pendency of the second appeal, the assessee raised an additional ground questioning the very jurisdiction of the assessing authority to invoke reassessment proceedings under Section 10 of the Act. However, the Tribunal, by an interlocutory order, declined to adjudicate the issue at that stage and observed that the matter should await the outcome of proceedings pending before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) concerning the assessee’s claim for exemption from entry tax under a rehabilitation scheme sanctioned by the erstwhile Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

The assessee challenged the Tribunal’s approach before the High Court, contending that the issue of jurisdiction went to the root of the matter and required independent adjudication irrespective of the outcome of the exemption dispute pending before the NCLAT. It was argued that the Tribunal ought to have addressed the jurisdictional challenge instead of postponing consideration of the appeal. “The fundamental issue of jurisdiction of assessment to invoke reassessment under Section 10 of the OET Act is a question to be decided by this Tribunal.”

The petitioner further submitted that the question of exemption under the BIFR-sanctioned scheme related to the merits of the tax demand, whereas the challenge to the authority of the assessing officer to initiate reassessment proceedings was a foundational legal issue that deserved separate consideration. Reliance was also placed on judicial precedents dealing with reassessment jurisdiction under the Odisha Entry Tax Act.

During the hearing, the Revenue informed the Court that the proceedings before the NCLAT, which had prompted the Tribunal to defer adjudication, had already been concluded by judgment dated 18.05.2026. It was therefore submitted that the Tribunal could now proceed to decide the second appeal comprehensively on all issues.

“The learned Odisha Sales Tax Tribunal, being final fact-finding authority and vested with power to adjudicate both questions of law as well as facts, [is directed] to expedite hearing of the second appeal on merits as well as on the question of jurisdiction of the assessing authority.”

Thus, the High Court directed the Odisha Sales Tax Tribunal to fix the matter for hearing and decide the pending second appeal on the basis of all grounds and materials available on record, including the jurisdictional issue and other questions of law arising in the case. The Court clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on the merits of the controversy and left all issues open for adjudication by the Tribunal. The writ petition was disposed of with the aforesaid directions and without any order as to costs.