Recovery modes under Karnataka sales tax law are cumulative, and a Form 6 demand does not bar other statutory remedies.

Section 13(3) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act allows assessed tax and other dues to be recovered without prejudice to any other mode of collection, so the statutory recovery remedies are cumulative rather than exclusive. Rule 20 and Form 6 regulate the demand notice process after final assessment, but they do not restrict the assessing authority's wider power to recover dues by arrears of land revenue, attachment and sale, or through a Magistrate as a fine. A demand notice in Form 6 does not create estoppel or an election against other lawful recovery methods absent detriment to the assessee.

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Issues: Whether, after issuing a demand notice in Form 6 under Rule 20 of the Karnataka Sales Tax Rules, 1957, the assessing authority was bound to recover the tax only as arrears of land revenue and was precluded from invoking the other modes of recovery under Section 13(3) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957.

Analysis: Section 13(3) of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957 expressly provides that tax assessed or any other amount due may, without prejudice to any other mode of collection, be recovered as arrears of land revenue, by attachment and sale of property, or through a Magistrate as if it were a fine. The expression without prejudice to any other mode of collection indicates that the statutory modes are not mutually exclusive and that the department retains discretion in the manner of recovery. Rule 20 and Form 6 regulate the demand process after final assessment, but they do not curtail the wider statutory power of recovery conferred by Section 13(3). The plea of estoppel by election also fails because the available modes of recovery are not mutually exclusive and no alteration of position to the assessee's detriment was shown.

Conclusion: The assessing authority was not confined to recovery as arrears of land revenue and was entitled to adopt other modes of recovery under Section 13(3); the contention based on Rule 20 and Form 6 was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the recovery provision states that tax may be recovered without prejudice to any other mode of collection, the prescribed recovery modes are cumulative rather than exclusive, and issuance of a demand notice in a particular form does not create estoppel against the authority's use of other statutory remedies.

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