Official Liquidator sales: pre-purchase municipal tax arrears must be claimed in liquidation, not enforced against the buyer.

Municipal property tax dues accruing before a company's property is sold by an Official Liquidator in winding up cannot be enforced against the auction purchaser by attachment. The purchaser acquires title and possession through the liquidation process, but pre-sale liabilities remain claims against the company in liquidation and must be lodged with the Official Liquidator for distribution under the Companies Act's priority scheme. A municipal authority is not entitled to bypass liquidation or recover such past dues directly from the purchaser. Pre-purchase arrears therefore do not travel with the property, and only post-purchase tax liabilities can fall on the buyer.

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Issues: Whether municipal property tax dues relating to a period prior to purchase of property from the Official Liquidator can be recovered from the auction purchaser by attachment, or whether such pre-purchase dues must be lodged against the company in liquidation through the Official Liquidator.

Analysis: The property was sold in winding up through the Official Liquidator, and the purchaser obtained title and possession only upon completion of that process. In such a case, the liabilities attaching to the company before sale do not travel with the property so as to burden the purchaser. The municipal corporation's claim, though supported by statutory provisions treating property tax as a charge and by the general principle of priority of State dues, is subject to the scheme of the Companies Act governing winding up. Upon winding up, the company's assets vest in the Liquidator, claims against the company have to be proved in liquidation, and the Liquidator alone can distribute realised assets in accordance with statutory priorities. The municipal authority, being neither a secured creditor nor entitled to stand outside the winding up, had to lodge its claim with the Official Liquidator for dues accruing before the sale.

Conclusion: The purchaser was not liable for municipal tax arrears for the period before purchase, and the attachment for those past dues was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: A purchaser of property sold by an Official Liquidator in winding up is liable only for tax liabilities arising after purchase, while pre-sale dues must be claimed in liquidation and cannot be enforced directly against the purchaser by attachment.

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