Court treated as a "person" for sales tax notice purposes under section 26(1), enabling recovery from money held on behalf of assessee.

Section 26(1) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act was construed to permit a sales tax authority to issue notice to a court holding money on behalf of an assessee. The expression "person" was interpreted in its wider sense, and the court was not excluded from that category. Objections based on clauses (4) and (6) failed because those provisions deal only with the consequences of non-compliance by the person served with notice. If the authority has jurisdiction to issue the notice, the court served with it must comply.

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Issues: Whether, for the purposes of section 26(1) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, a court is included within the expression "person" so that a sales tax authority may issue a notice in respect of money held by the court on behalf of an assessee.

Analysis: The provision empowers the assessing authority to require any person from whom money is due, or who holds money for or on account of the dealer, to pay the amount to the assessing authority. The expression "person" was construed in its wider sense, and the court was held not to be excluded from that category. The objections based on clauses (4) and (6) were rejected, since those clauses only provide the consequences of non-compliance by the person served with notice. The court, when served, is bound to comply with the notice if the authority has jurisdiction to issue it.

Conclusion: A court can be treated as a "person" under section 26(1), and the sales tax authority is competent to issue the notice to the court.

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