Appealability of sale confirmation orders under tax recovery rules upheld; confirmation is not a conclusive order.

An order of the Tax Recovery Officer confirming a sale under the Second Schedule to the Income-tax Act remains an original order made in the course of the statutory sale process and is therefore appealable under rule 86(1). The fact that a sale becomes absolute on confirmation and payment of the purchase money does not make the confirmation order itself conclusive. Finality is expressly attached in the Schedule only where provided, such as in rule 10(2) for exemption-from-attachment issues; no similar conclusive status applies to sale confirmation. The appellate remedy was therefore available, and the contrary view was incorrect.

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Issues: Whether the order of the Tax Recovery Officer confirming the sale was an original order appealable under rule 86(1) of the Second Schedule to the Income-tax Act, 1961, or a conclusive order barring appeal.

Analysis: Rule 86(1) permits an appeal from an original order of the Tax Recovery Officer unless the order is one which the Schedule makes conclusive. The conclusive character expressly appears in rule 10(2) for questions of exemption from attachment, but no such finality is attached to an order confirming sale under rule 63(1). A sale becomes absolute only after confirmation and payment of the purchase money, but the statutory consequence that the sale becomes absolute does not convert the confirming order itself into a conclusive order. The confirmation order remains an original order made in the course of the statutory sale and therefore falls within the appellate remedy.

Conclusion: The order confirming the sale was appealable under rule 86(1), and the Commissioner was wrong in treating the appeal as barred.

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