Personal liability for sales tax arrears cannot be implied against a managing director absent express statutory liability.

A codifying fiscal statute cannot extend liability by implication beyond the persons expressly made liable. The Sales Tax Act confined recovery to the assessed dealer and did not create personal liability for a director or managing director for the company's arrears. Because the Revenue Recovery Act could operate only through the liability framework in the Sales Tax Act, proceedings could not be taken against a third party who was not a statutory defaulter. The arrest and detention were therefore without jurisdiction and were quashed.

---

---

Issues: Whether a Managing Director of a company could be proceeded against and arrested under the Revenue Recovery Act for recovery of sales tax arrears due from the company in the absence of any provision in the Sales Tax Act fastening personal liability on him.

Analysis: The Sales Tax Act was treated as a codifying fiscal enactment, and its liability provisions were confined to the dealer assessed to tax and declared a defaulter. The Act contained no express provision making a director or managing director personally liable for the company's sales tax arrears. Since the recovery machinery under the Revenue Recovery Act operated only through section 23(2)(a) of the Sales Tax Act against a person liable under that Act, proceedings could not be extended to a third party who was not a defaulter within the meaning of the statute. The arrest and detention also affected personal liberty and could not be sustained on the basis of a void recovery order.

Conclusion: The proceedings against the Managing Director were without jurisdiction and void, and the order of arrest and detention was quashed.

Final Conclusion: Recovery of the company's sales tax arrears could not legally be enforced against the Managing Director in the absence of statutory liability, and the illegal detention was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: In a codifying fiscal statute, liability cannot be extended by implication beyond the persons expressly made liable, and recovery proceedings cannot be taken against one who is not statutorily a defaulter.

---