Joint and several liability of partners after firm dissolution upheld; recovery notices against the partner were valid and not barred.

Section 189(3) of the Income-tax Act makes partners of a dissolved firm jointly and severally liable for the firm's tax arrears. On that basis, fresh notices issued in the partner's own name under section 156 and the Second Schedule were treated as valid recovery steps against him as an assessee in default, not as a direct execution against the firm's property. The earlier judgment therefore did not bar the present proceedings by res judicata, and the challenge to the notices failed.

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Issues: Whether the earlier judgment barred recovery proceedings against the petitioner, a partner of a dissolved firm, and whether the impugned notices validly proceeded against him as an assessee in default for the firm's tax arrears.

Analysis: The earlier decision was understood to hold that the firm's tax dues could not be recovered from the partners unless they were treated as assessees in default and the requisite steps were taken against them individually. Section 189(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 makes partners of a dissolved firm jointly and severally liable for the firm's arrears, and the record showed that, after the earlier judgment, fresh notices under section 156 and the Second Schedule were issued in the petitioner's own name as partner of the dissolved firm. The proceedings were therefore not a mere attempt to execute a certificate against the firm's property by proceeding directly against the partners' individual assets.

Conclusion: The earlier judgment did not operate as res judicata against the present recovery proceedings, and the petitioner remained liable for the dissolved firm's tax arrears. The challenge to the notices failed.

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