Valid demand notice requirements control recovery proceedings and preserve the statutory right of appeal under sales tax law.

A demand notice under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act must specify a payment date at least thirty days after service, and a notice omitting that date is defective at the root. The text states that such a defect prevents valid recovery of assessed tax and penalty and cannot sustain certificate proceedings founded on the notice. It also notes that the statutory right of appeal arises from service of a valid demand notice, so if the defective notice is set aside, the appellate remedy revives upon service of a fresh valid notice.

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Issues: Whether a demand notice under section 11(3) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, which does not specify a date for payment not less than thirty days from service, is valid and can sustain certificate recovery proceedings, and whether the assessee's appellate remedy can survive upon quashing of such notice.

Analysis: Section 11(3) requires the demand notice itself to specify a date for payment, and the date must be at least thirty days from service of the notice. In the absence of such a specified date, recovery of the assessed tax and penalty cannot validly proceed. The defect goes to the root of the demand notice and, consequently, the certificate case founded on that notice cannot be sustained. Once the demand notice is set aside, the right of appeal, which accrues from service of a valid demand notice under section 20(1), revives when a fresh valid notice is served.

Conclusion: The demand notice was invalid, the certificate proceedings were unsustainable, and the assessee was entitled to challenge the assessment afresh upon service of a valid subsequent demand notice.

Ratio Decidendi: A demand notice under section 11(3) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 must specify a payment date not less than thirty days from service, and a notice lacking that requirement cannot support recovery proceedings or defeat the statutory right of appeal.

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