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Issues:
1. Interpretation of section 41 of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1955 regarding the recovery of tax arrears. 2. Determining the authority responsible for collecting tax arrears under the Act. 3. Application of section 73 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 in the distribution of amounts due to multiple creditors in execution proceedings. Detailed Analysis: 1. The revision petition involved a dispute regarding the recovery of tax arrears under section 41 of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1955. The Agricultural Income-tax Officer, as the first respondent, filed an execution application seeking payment of Rs. 1,13,000 from the amount realized after the sale of the deceased judgment-debtor's property. The petitioner argued that the Officer should have approached the Collector, the executing authority under section 41, for collecting the arrears instead of the civil court. The petitioner contended that the order for payment out was erroneous and should be set aside. 2. The Additional Government Pleader representing the first respondent contended that under section 73 of the Civil Procedure Code, in cases with multiple creditors, the executing court is responsible for distributing the amount due to them rateably. It was argued that the first respondent's approach to the civil court for payment out of the amount due from the judgment-debtor was in line with established procedures. The Pleader asserted that the Collector, as the executing court, could use various methods, including approaching the civil court, to collect the tax arrears. 3. The Court considered the submissions and noted that the judgment-debtor was an agricultural income-tax assessee, and a sum of Rs. 1,16,000 was deposited in court from the sale of his property. The Agricultural Income-tax Officer applied for payment of Rs. 1,13,000, the tax arrears, from this amount. The Court interpreted section 41 of the Act, which mandates the Officer to forward a certificate to the District Collector for recovering the amount due. In this case, since the amount was already in court deposit, the Officer approached the executing court for payment. The Court found that this approach did not violate the Act or the Civil Procedure Code, as the tax arrears were akin to land revenue, giving the Government a first charge over the deposited amount. Consequently, the Court dismissed the revision petition, upholding the order for payment out in favor of the Agricultural Income-tax Officer.
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