Personal liability for company tax dues requires express statutory authority; director's property could not be sold for the arrears.

A company's sales tax arrears cannot be recovered by auctioning a director's personal property unless the statute expressly fastens that liability on the director. The Madhya Pradesh Commercial Tax Act, 1994 treated the company as a separate legal entity, and it contained no provision authorising recovery from the director's personal assets. Section 24A did not assist the revenue because no personal or corporate guarantee had been furnished and the company's registration predated that provision. In taxing statutes, liability cannot be extended by implication or by reference to other enactments unless expressly provided. The impugned sale proclamation and recovery proceedings were therefore illegal and were set aside.

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Issues: Whether arrears of sales tax payable by a company could be recovered by auction of the personal property of a director in the absence of any specific statutory provision fastening such liability on the director.

Analysis: The company was a dealer under the M. P. Commercial Tax Act, 1994 and the assessed demand arose against the company, which is a separate legal entity distinct from its directors. The Act contained no provision authorising recovery of the company's tax dues from a director's personal assets, and section 24A, which contemplates furnishing of personal or corporate guarantee by promoters, did not assist the revenue on the facts because no such guarantee had been furnished and the company's registration predated the provision. In a taxing statute, liability cannot be extended by implication or by reference to other enactments unless the statute expressly so provides.

Conclusion: Recovery by auction of the petitioner-director's personal house and car for the company's sales tax dues was impermissible and the recovery proceedings were illegal.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the impugned sale proclamation and consequential recovery proceedings were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of an express statutory provision fastening a company's sales tax liability on its director, the revenue cannot recover the company's dues from the director's personal property; taxing statutes must be strictly construed.

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