Civil execution for tax arrears upheld where statute treats recoverable tax as a fine, with arrest barred only.

Tax arrears finally assessed and made recoverable "as if" a fine could be enforced through civil execution under the Criminal Procedure Code. The court reasoned that section 386 of the Code permits a fine to be recovered by warrant through the Collector using civil process, and the statutory proviso barred only arrest or detention in prison, not attachment and sale. The objection that prosecution was invalid because the dealer was a firm rather than its partners was rejected, since all partners had been prosecuted and a firm has no separate legal existence from its partners. The warrant for civil recovery was therefore valid, and the jurisdictional objections failed.

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Issues: Whether tax arrears specified in a criminal conviction could be recovered by warrant through civil execution as if they were a fine under the criminal procedure code.

Analysis: The tax had been finally assessed and the conviction had become final. Under section 19(h) of the General Sales Tax Act, the specified tax was recoverable as if it were a fine under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Section 386 of the Code of Criminal Procedure authorised recovery of a fine by warrant to the Collector for execution according to civil process. The proviso only barred recovery by arrest or detention in prison, not recovery by attachment and sale through civil execution. The objection that the prosecution was not maintainable because the dealer was the firm and not the partners was rejected, since all partners had been prosecuted and a firm has no separate existence apart from its partners.

Conclusion: The warrant for recovery through civil execution was valid, and the objections to jurisdiction failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute provides that tax shall be recoverable as if it were a fine, recovery may be effected through civil execution under the criminal procedure provisions applicable to fines, subject only to the statutory bar against arrest or detention.

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