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TMI Blog1966 (7) TMI 69X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... agistrate, Palghat, and he was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 100 in each case. As enjoined by section 15(h) of the Act the amounts due from the appellant by way of arrears of sales tax were specified in the orders passed by the Magistrate and the amounts specified were Rs. 1,334-12-0 in C.C. 146 of 1951 and Rs. 1,766-2-6 in C.C. 145 of 1951. Warrants were issued by the Magistrate under section 386(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code to the Collector of the District authorising him to realise the fine and the arrears of sales tax specified in the orders in the two criminal cases. 2.. The execution petitions out of which these appeals arise were filed for the realisation of the arrears of tax due under the warrants issued. I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ollowing ways, that is to say, it may- (a) issue a warrant for the levy of the amount by attachment and sale of any movable property belonging to the offender; (b) issue a warrant to the Collector of the District authorising him to realise the amount by execution according to civil process against the movable or immovable property, or both, of the defaulter: Provided that, if the sentence directs that in default of payment of the fine the offender shall be imprisoned, and if such offender has undergone the whole of such imprisonment in default, no Court shall issue such warrant unless for special reasons to be recorded in writing it considers it necessary to do so. (2) The State Government may make rules regulating the manner in which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he tax "so specified shall be recoverable as if it were a fine" the learned counsel for the appellant submitted relying on section 19 of the Madras General Clauses Act, 1891, that the applications for execution for realising the tax specified in the orders should have been filed within the period of limitation provided for in section 70 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 19 of the Madras General Clauses Act, 1891, is extracted below: "The provisions of sections 63, 68, 69 and 70 of the Indian Penal Code shall apply to all fines imposed under the authority of any Act." The entire argument of the learned Advocate for the appellant was built on the clause "and the tax, fee or amount so specified shall be recoverable as if it were a fine" in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tracted already in this judgment. In holding that section 64 of the Indian Penal Code cannot be invoked for the realisation of the amounts specified in the order under section 19(h), Sankaran, C.J., observed: "The direction contained in section 19 that the amount thus specified in the Magistrate's order shall be recoverable as if it were a fine under the Code of Criminal Procedure clearly indicates that the said amount is not really a fine imposed by way of penalty. The legislative sanction for the recovery of such amount as if it were a fine cannot have the effect of placing it in the category of fine imposed as a penal liability. The expression 'as if it were a fine' necessarily means that it is not a fine, as understood in law. In respec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nly a fine and not imprisonment. The provision in section 19 that the court should specify the amount of arrears of tax does not mean that such amount automatically becomes transformed into a fine so as to attract the provisions of section 64 of the Penal Code." We respectfully follow the interpretation of the expression "as if it were a fine" in these decisions. The expression "as if it were a fine" is not a deeming provision. On the other hand, the use of such expression shows that "tax, fee or amount so specified" is not to be treated as a fine. The language of the section is not sufficient to construe the same as a deeming provision. If that had been the intention of the Legislature, it would have been very easy to have made this sect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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