TMI Blog1963 (7) TMI 82X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ber 1, 1957. The petitioners contend that there cannot be any personal liability to pay tax imposed on a society since the members of the society have no personal liability to discharge the debts of the society. This society has been registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and it seems to me that sections 6 and 8 of that Act reading as under are relevant: 6. Every society registered under this Act may sue or be sued in the name of the president, chairman, or principal secretary, or trustees, as shall be determined by the rules and regulations of the society, and, in default of such determination, in the name of such person as shall be appointed by the governing body for the occasion: Provided that it shall be competent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to me to be clear that the members of a society are not personally liable for the debts of the society. The society is a legal entity. It is capable of suing and being sued as such. A tax imposed on a society, though it has been styled as an association of persons , is still a tax on the society and not on its members. It is not possible, therefore, to say that the tax imposed on a society is a tax imposed on the members of the society. But counsel on behalf of the department invited my attention to section 3 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, and contended that the income- tax law does not recognise a society that it only contemplates assessments on certain units--the individual, the company, the undivided Hindu family, a firm and an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... order. That order proceeds on the basis that the assessments for all the years in question stand on the same footing. The above order was passed after the petitioners approached this court once before in O.P. No. 835 of 1959. This court then directed an investigation into the various points raised by the petitioners in exhibits P-13 and P-14, representations made by the petitioners before the Income-tax Officer. The Income-tax Officer said in the order, exhibit P-15: I have now to point out to you that the society has been assessed to tax as an 'association of persons'. Law provides that the tax levied on an 'association of persons' can be recovered jointly and severally from the members of the 'association'. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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