Statutory bar on civil suits in income-tax recovery proceedings leaves possession and eviction disputes to prescribed remedies.

Section 293 of the Income-tax Act and the Second Schedule, together with Rules 9, 11, 16, 39, 44 and 47 of the Income-tax (Certificate Proceedings) Rules, excluded civil court intervention in disputes arising from certificate recovery proceedings. Claims relating to attachment, sale, delivery of possession, resistance or obstruction had to be pursued through the statutory remedies, except for the narrow civil remedy expressly preserved by the rules. A lease created after notice under Rule 2 did not defeat the recovery process, and the petitioner failed to show a basis to stop delivery of possession to the auction purchaser. The civil suit was therefore not maintainable, and the challenge to eviction failed.

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Issues: Whether the civil suit was maintainable in view of the statutory bar under the income-tax recovery provisions and, if not, whether the petitioner could restrain eviction otherwise than in accordance with the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under section 293 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the Second Schedule limits civil court intervention in matters arising out of certificate proceedings. Rules 9, 11, 16, 39, 44 and 47 of the Income-tax (Certificate Proceedings) Rules, 1962 confine disputes about attachment, sale, delivery of possession and resistance or obstruction to the remedies provided under those provisions, while preserving only the limited civil remedy expressly recognised by the rules. A private lease created after notice under rule 2 is ineffective against the recovery proceedings, and the petitioner, having failed to show continuing possession or any basis to displace the statutory recovery process, could not maintain a civil suit to obstruct delivery to the auction purchaser.

Conclusion: The suit was not maintainable and the challenge to eviction failed; the statutory recovery remedies alone were available to the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the recovery statute and its rules provide a complete mechanism for adjudicating claims, objections, delivery of possession and resistance to execution, the civil court's jurisdiction is excluded except to the limited extent expressly preserved by the statute.

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