Commencement of recovery proceedings occurs on the assessing authority's report to the Collector, not on the Tahsildar's demand.

Clarifies that for agricultural income-tax recovery the operative commencement is the assessing authority's report/certificate to the Collector-treating the tax and penalty as arrears of land revenue-and not the subsequent Tahsildar writ of demand; accordingly recovery actions dated on receipt and Collector direction fall within the one-year recovery window under the statute, so limitation does not bar collection. The Tahsildar's writ is a subsequent step in execution but does not fix the start of recovery proceedings; petition challenging recovery was therefore dismissed in favour of revenue.

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Issues: Whether the recovery proceedings in respect of agricultural income-tax for Fasli year 1360 were barred by limitation.

Analysis: The Court examined section 32(1) and section 32(2) of the U.P. Agricultural Income Tax Act and found that under section 32(1) the Collector is empowered to recover tax and penalty as if they were arrears of land revenue on the motion of the assessing authority. By comparison with the language of section 46(7) of the Income-tax Act and relevant authorities, the Court held that the commencement of recovery proceedings is the date on which the assessing authority requests the Collector to realise the arrears (i.e., the report/certificate forwarded to the Collector), not the later issuance of a writ of demand by the Tahsildar. Annexures to the counter-affidavit showed that the assessing authority reported to the Collector on May 12, 1954 and October 9, 1954 and the Collector directed realisation on May 13, 1954 and October 9, 1954; accordingly the recovery proceedings commenced within the one-year period contemplated by section 32(2). The Court further noted that the writ of demand issued by the Tahsildar under section 280(1) of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act is a step in the recovery process but does not mark its commencement.

Conclusion: The recovery proceedings were not time-barred; the writ petition challenging those proceedings is dismissed (decision in favour of the revenue).

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