Mandatory notice and partner liability for firm tax arrears under the sales tax regime were strictly enforced.

Mandatory notice under section 80(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure remains strict, and leave under section 80(2) is confined to genuine urgency; where recovery proceedings had already begun well before the impugned notice, bypassing notice was not justified. The Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 was read to impose joint and several liability on the firm and its partners, while section 61 preserved outstanding arrears as recoverable under the new Act. On that construction, sales tax arrears originally assessed under the old law could be recovered from a partner's assets, subject to compliance with section 80 where a civil suit is brought.

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Issues: (i) Whether the suit against the State was barred for want of notice and leave under section 80 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. (ii) Whether the sales tax arrears of a firm, assessed under the old sales tax law and carried forward under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, could be recovered from the assets of a partner.

Issue (i): Whether the suit against the State was barred for want of notice and leave under section 80 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Analysis: The statutory notice requirement under section 80(1) is mandatory and admits of no casual relaxation. Leave under section 80(2) is available only where urgent or immediate relief is genuinely made out. On the facts, recovery steps had commenced long before the impugned sale notice, including attachment of the plaintiff's property, and there was no sufficient urgency to justify bypassing the notice requirement. The plaintiff also failed to establish a valid basis for invoking section 80(2).

Conclusion: The suit was not maintainable for non-compliance with section 80(1) and failure to satisfy section 80(2), and this was against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the sales tax arrears of a firm, assessed under the old sales tax law and carried forward under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, could be recovered from the assets of a partner.

Analysis: Section 21 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 creates a joint and several liability of the firm and each partner for tax payable by the firm. Section 61 of the same Act preserves prior liabilities and deems arrears outstanding at the commencement of the Act to be recoverable as if they had accrued under the new Act. Reading these provisions together, the court treated the old liability as recoverable under the 1963 Act against the firm and its partners. The authorities relied on by the plaintiff were distinguished because they did not involve such an express statutory scheme.

Conclusion: Recovery against the partner and his assets was permissible, and this was against the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The decree in favour of the plaintiff could not stand, the State's appeal succeeded, and the suit was liable to be rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute expressly makes partners jointly and severally liable for the firm's tax and a repealing provision deems outstanding arrears recoverable under the new enactment, those arrears may be recovered from a partner's assets, but a suit challenging such recovery must still comply strictly with the mandatory notice and leave requirements of section 80 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

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