Civil suit for tax recovery barred where assessment stands unreversed; remedy must first follow statutory appeal and revision channels.

A civil suit to recover income tax collected under an assessment is barred where the assessment was made within the statutory machinery and the taxpayer did not use the Act's objection, appeal, revision, or reference remedies. A mere error in describing the assessee or in making the assessment does not, by itself, make the assessment ultra vires; the material distinction is between an erroneous assessment and a jurisdictional excess. The statutory bar was also not shown to be ultra vires, as no sufficient basis was established to invalidate it on the ground that a similar suit would have lain against the former sovereign. The remedy lies first within the statutory appellate and revisional framework.

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Issues: Whether a civil suit lay for recovery of income tax recovered under an assessment, and whether the statutory bar against such a suit was ultra vires.

Analysis: The assessment was made after notice to the assessee, who failed to submit a return and did not pursue the remedies provided by the Income-tax Act. A mere error in describing the assessee or in making the assessment did not make the action ultra vires; the distinction between an erroneous assessment and a jurisdictional excess was material. The Act furnished a complete machinery for objection, revision, appeal, and reference, and a suit to recover money taken under an assessment in due form could not be entertained until the assessment was set aside or modified. The challenge to the statutory bar also failed, as no sufficient basis was shown to establish that such a suit would have lain against the East India Company so as to invalidate the provision under the Government of India Act.

Conclusion: The civil suit was barred by Section 67 of the Income-tax Act, and the provision was not shown to be ultra vires.

Final Conclusion: The assessee's remedy lay only within the statutory appellate and revisional framework, and the recovery suit was not maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an income-tax assessment is made within the statutory machinery, a civil suit for refund or recovery is barred unless the assessment is first set aside or modified; an incorrect assessment is not, by itself, ultra vires.

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