Director's personal property cannot be used for company tax arrears absent winding up or specific statutory personal liability.

Recovery of a company's sales tax arrears could not be directed against a director's personal property when the company had not been wound up under the Companies Act and remained a separate legal entity. In the absence of a winding up order or any specific statutory provision fastening personal liability on the director, Section 19B of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act could not be used to proceed against the director personally. The existence of company assets further indicated that recovery should have been pursued against the company itself. The proposed recovery was therefore without jurisdiction and unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether recovery proceedings for sales tax arrears of a company could be initiated against the personal property of a director in the absence of any winding up order, and whether Section 19B of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act could be invoked for such recovery.

Analysis: The company had not been shown to have been wound up in accordance with the Companies Act, 1956, and therefore continued to exist as a separate legal entity. In the absence of a winding up order or any statutory provision fastening personal liability on the director, the tax arrears of the company could not be recovered from the director's personal property. The notice also showed that the company itself had properties, which reinforced that proceedings ought to have been directed against the company and not against the petitioner personally.

Conclusion: The proposed recovery against the petitioner's personal property was without jurisdiction and unsustainable, and the writ petition was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of winding up or a specific statutory provision imposing personal liability, arrears due from a company cannot be recovered from the personal property of its director, since the company remains a distinct legal entity.

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