Bank attachment before final assessment requires express statutory power and prior approval, not anticipatory restraint.

A taxing authority cannot direct a bank to stop transactions or hold a dealer's money before final assessment unless the statute clearly authorises that step and all conditions are satisfied. Section 17 was held to apply only where tax, penalty, or fee is already in arrears, so it could not be used to anticipate a future liability when no demand had been raised. Any attachment of bank funds, if permissible at all, had to proceed under section 17-B with the Commissioner's prior approval. The notices were therefore without jurisdiction and unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the assessing authority could direct the bank to stop transactions and hold the petitioner's money before final assessment by invoking section 17, and whether such action could be justified without resort to section 17-B and the Commissioner's prior approval.

Analysis: The notices directed to the bank were held to be beyond the powers conferred on the assessing authority. Section 17 contemplates a garnishee-type notice only where tax, penalty, or fee is already in arrears, whereas in the present case assessment had not been finalised and no demand had been raised. The attempt to anticipate a future tax liability and restrain the bank from dealing with the account was therefore not authorised by section 17. If attachment of bank money was to be attempted at all, it could only be under section 17-B, and that too with the Commissioner's prior approval, which had not been obtained.

Conclusion: The notices were without jurisdiction, arbitrary, and unsustainable, and the writ petitioner succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: A taxing authority cannot restrain a dealer's bank transactions or attach bank money before final assessment unless the statute expressly authorises such action and all statutory preconditions, including prior approval where required, are satisfied.

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