TMI Blog2015 (6) TMI 81X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... isions of Section 35 of the VAT Act. Thus, we do not find any merit in the present writ petition - Decided against assessee. - Civil Writ Petition No. 21583 of 2014 - - - Dated:- 24-4-2015 - Hemant Gupta And Lisa Gill,JJ. For the Appellant : Mr B P S Dhaliwal, Adv. For the Respondent : Mr Vinod S Bhardwaj, Addl. Adv., General, Punjab JUDGMENT Hemant Gupta,J. Challenge in the present writ petition is to the communication dated 23.05.2014 (Annexure P-1), whereby the possession of the assets of the borrower were taken by the Collector -cum- Assistant Excise Taxation, Ropar circle, Ropar and the management of the land handed over to the Tehsildar, SAS Nagar. The petitioner, a public sector Bank, advanced loan to resp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ein the dues of the State were treated as preferential creditor in terms of the amendments made in the local laws. Reference was also made to Section 35 of the VAT Act, whereby first charge has been created for the payment of amount of tax, penalty, interest and other sum payable. The relevant Section 35 of the VAT Act reads as under: 35. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any contract or law for the time being in force, any amount of tax, penalty, interest and any other sum, payable by a taxable, registered or any other person under this Act, shall be the first charge on the property of such person from the date on which the amount becomes due and payable. Learned counsel for the petitioner relies upon a Division ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... AT Act are unwarranted, as the said provisions only contemplate that all arrears of tax and other amount due at the commencement of the VAT could be recovered if the same had accrued under the VAT Act, but there is no provision in the Haryana General Sales Tax Act corresponding to Section 26 of the VAT Act giving preference to the dues of the State. The relevant extract from the said judgment reads as under: 22. A perusal of the aforesaid provision shows that merely because HGST Act has been repealed, it was not to affect the provisions of the repealed Act or anything duly done or suffered thereunder. The repeal was also not to affect any title, liability incurred under that Act nor it was to affect any act done. All arrears of tax and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... curitisation Act so as to attract non obstante clauses contained in Section 34(1) of the DRT Act or Section 35 of the Securitisation Act. In V. S. Kandalgaonkar's case (supra), the Hon'ble Supreme Court said to the following effect: 38. It was argued that Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Edn. defines statutory lien as follows: Statutory lien - A lien arising solely by force of statute upon specified circumstances or conditions, but does not include any lien provided by or dependent upon an agreement to give security, whether or not such lien is also provided by or is also dependent upon statute and whether or not the agreement or lien is made fully effective by statute. Based on this it was further argued that such ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1835-36, para 7 : SCR at pp. 861-62). 40. In the present case, as has been noted above, the lien possessed by the Stock Exchange makes it a secured creditor. That being the case, it is clear that whether the lien under Rule 43 is a statutory lien or is a lien arising out of agreement does not make much of a difference as the Stock Exchange, being a secured creditor, would have priority over Government dues. In fact, in the aforesaid case, the Income dues were not given any statutory preference. But in the case in hand, the statutory preference has been given to the tax arrears under the VAT Act. In view of the Supreme Court judgment in Central Bank of India's case (supra), we find that the claim of the petitioner that it had pref ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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