Revenue Recovery Act delegation includes preparation and signature of certificate, validating sales tax arrears recovery proceedings.

Section 5 of the Revenue Recovery Act, 1890 was read as attracting the general recovery machinery under section 3, including the statutory power to delegate duties connected with issuance of the recovery certificate. The Madras High Court held that this delegation extended to the composite function of preparing and signing the certificate, not merely signing a document already prepared. On that basis, revenue recovery proceedings for sales tax arrears in Tamil Nadu were upheld, and the challenge to territorial competence and validity of the certificate was rejected.

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Issues: Whether revenue recovery proceedings for sales tax arrears could be initiated in Tamil Nadu on the basis of a certificate issued under the Revenue Recovery Act, 1890, and whether the Collector's power under the Act permitted delegation for issuance of the certificate, including in proceedings falling within section 5.

Analysis: The objections were examined against sections 3 and 5 of the Revenue Recovery Act, 1890. Section 5 was read as attracting the foregoing provisions of the Act, including section 3, so that the machinery for recovery and the statutory power to delegate the duty connected with issuance of the certificate were available even where the sum was recoverable as arrears of revenue by a public officer other than the Collector or by a local authority. The Court further held that the expression empowering delegation covered the composite function of making and signing the certificate, and not merely the ministerial act of signing an already prepared certificate. The challenge to territorial competence and the validity of the certificate was therefore rejected.

Conclusion: The recovery proceedings were held to be valid, and the writ petition was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where section 5 of the Revenue Recovery Act, 1890 applies, the recovery machinery under section 3 is attracted, and the delegated duty to issue the certificate includes both its preparation and signature.

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