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TMI Blog1961 (2) TMI 88X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e amount, the Income-tax Officer concerned forwarded to the Collector, Bhilwara, a certificate for recovery of the amount due from the petitioners. The Collector, Bhilwara, then initiated proceedings for recovery of the dues and transferred the case to the Tehsildar of Bhilwara for appropriate action in order to realise the amount. The said Tehsildar issued notice under section 229 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 (15 of 1956) on 10th August, 1959. This was followed by another notice of demand dated 27th November, 1959, in which the Tehsildar, Bhilwara, again pressed for payment of the amount in arrear along with certain costs within fifteen days from the date of the notice. In the meanwhile the petitioners' firm preferred an appeal to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner against the order of assessment passed by the Income-tax Officer, after an application under section 27 of the Act requesting the Income-tax Officer to cancel the ex parte assessment had failed. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner by his order dated 10th April, 1959, partially accepted the appeal of the petitioners and reduced the amount of tax levied to a sum of ₹ 91,132 only. The Appellate Assi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n order to support his contention on the first point that a fresh notice of demand under section 29 of the Act was necessary before any action could be taken by the authorities to recover the amount, Mr. Bhandari contends that the earlier assessment had been modified as a result of the appeal; it was, therefore, obligatory on the taxing authorities to call upon the petitioners by a fresh notice of demand to pay up the amount due at a place and time appointed in the said notice. He relied upon a decision of the Mysore High Court in Seghu Buchiah Setty v. Income-tax Officer, Kolar Circle [1960] 38 ITR 204 . In that case also a certificate had been forwarded to the Collector under section 46(2) of the Income-tax Act for recovery of arrears of tax and proceedings were initiated for the attachment of immovable properties of the assessee. The tax payable by the assessee was, however, substantially reduced by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner on appeal, but no fresh notice of demand was issued thereafter and the Collector proceeded to bring to sale the properties attached on the basis of the original certificate. It was held on an application for a writ quashing the recovery proceeding ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... icate, since reduced and modified on appeal. The fact that the certificate officer was also informed of the reduced amount and intimation was sent to the petitioners accordingly is quite enough to meet the ends of justice. The learned counsel himself realised that he could no longer support his contention on the first point. In our opinion it is not essential in such a case to serve a second notice of demand under section 29 of the Act. Under the law the certificate officer is empowered to amend the certificate. Thus where the tax due is scaled down by the appellate authority, the certificate can be suitably amended and the proceedings already initiated can be continued for realisation of the reduced amount. No fresh certificate is necessary so as to wipe off the entire proceedings heretofore adopted. If any other interpretation of the law is accepted, all the advantage of attachment of properties in the earlier certificate proceeding would be lost, since the whole proceeding will have to start afresh. We do not think that the law contemplated any such procedure. The contention, therefore, on the first point must fail. The second contention of the learned counsel has raised cert ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e and other moneys. It says: The following moneys may be recovered under this Act in the same manner as an arrear of revenue: (a)rents, fees and royalties due to the State Government for the use or occupation of land or water, whether the property of the Government or not, or on account of any products thereof; (b)all moneys falling due to the State Government under any grant, lease or contract which provides that they shall be recoverable as arrears of revenue; (c)all sums declared by this Act or any other enactment for the time being in force to be recoverable in the same manner as an arrear of revenue; and (d)all sums declared by the Rajasthan Public Demands Recovery Act, 1952 (Rajasthan Act V of 1952), or any other enactment for the time being in force to be public demands or recoverable as arrears of public demands. The various clauses appear to make a distinction between the recovery of revenue as such and recovery of any demand as an arrear of revenue. Section 259 of this Act bars the jurisdiction of the civil courts. No suit or proceeding shall, unless otherwise excepted by any express provision made in this Act or in any other enactment or law ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... protest and to question the correctness of the account in separate independent proceedings before the Collector. Then obviously there can be no protection to a person who challenges the recovery of the assessment of income-tax on the ground that the recovery is barred by limitation. Such an objection is none the less open to the assessee under sub-section (7) of section 46 of the Income-tax Act, which says that no proceedings for the recovery of any sum payable shall be commenced after the expiration of one year from the last day of the financial year in which any demand is made. It is obvious, therefore, that apart from the provisions in the Land Revenue Act, there is some other enactment to which we have to refer in order to be able to have a comprehensive idea of the nature of the procedure to be followed by the Collector in recovery of income-tax dues. That in our opinion can only be provided by the Public Demands Recovery Act. The other difficulty which would arise if we had to depend only on the provisions of the Land Revenue Act for the recovery of a demand of this nature is that under the Land Revenue Act the Collector could not delegate his powers for recovery of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , in whose office a certificate is filed under section 4 or to whom a copy of the certificate is transmitted under section 5, may send it for execution to any Assistant Collector or Tehsildar subordinate to him, within whose jurisdiction the defaulter resides or owns property. But this can only be done after determination of any question under section 8 of the Act. It is presumably on the authority of section 11, if at all, that the Collector acted in this case and transferred the proceedings to the Tehsildar concerned. Then comes section 13, which is an important section, which says that subject to the other provisions of the Act, the amount due under a certificate may be recovered in one or more of the modes authorised by any law for the time being in force for the recovery of an arrear of land revenue; and the provisions of such law shall apply as if such amount were an arrear of land revenue due from the defaulter. It is by virtue of this provision that mutatis mutandis the provisions of Chapter X of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act are attracted to the recovery of these public demands. In other words sections 228 and 256 and other relevant provisions of the Land Revenue Act come ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le as if it were an arrear of land revenue and, therefore, the provisions of the Public Demands Recovery Act are attracted to the recovery of the dues. The above view finds ample support from an earlier decision of this court in Gian Singh v. Collector, Bhilwara [1955] ILR 5 Raj. 644. In that case the Commissioner under the Workmen's Compensation Act had made a request to the Collector to realise a certain sum of money which under the Act was realisable as arrears of land revenue. The Collector on receipt of that written request or requisition from the said officer proceeded to realise the amount under the provisions of the Public Demands Recovery Act; but when an objection was raised by the defaulter under section 8 of the Public Demands Recovery Act denying his liability, the Collector dropped the proceedings under the Public Demands Recovery Act and started recovery of the same amount under section 84 of the Qanoon Mal Mewar (Act No. V of 1947). It was held by this court that where a public officer makes a request to the Collector to realise any sum which is realisable as an arrear of land revenue, the Collector can only proceed to do so under the provisions of the Public ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ficer on the authority of section 46(2) of the Income-tax Act in itself amounts to a certificate within the meaning of section 4 of the Public Demands Recovery Act read with section 30 of the said Act. Thereafter the signing of a certificate by the Collector under section 4 of the Public Demands Recovery Act is merely formal and the Collector's jurisdiction to proceed to recover the amount specified in the certificate of the Income-tax Officer is insured on the language of section 46(2) of the Income-tax Act itself. It says, ..the Collector, on receipt of such certificate, shall proceed to recover from such assessee the amount specified therein as if it were an arrear of land revenue . Under section 29 of the Act, a notice of demand had been issued already to the assessee. Under the provisions of section 46 of the Act the amount due to the income-tax department could be further realised by the Collector, as if it were an amount due under a decree. Therefore, the complaint here mainly is reduced to this that a notice under section 6 of the Public Demands Recovery Act was not issued. We have no doubt that compliance with sections 4 and 6 of the Public Demands Recovery Act is ne ..... 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