District-language sale proclamation requirement bars tax recovery auction until fresh Kannada notice is issued

Rule 52 of Schedule II to the Income-tax Act required a proclamation of intended sale of immovable property for tax recovery to be published in the language of the district, so that local residents could learn of the auction and the property could secure a proper price. Because the proclamation was not issued in Kannada, the statutory requirement was not satisfied and the sale proceedings could not be acted upon on that basis. The existing notice did not require quashing merely because the sale date had passed, but a fresh proclamation in Kannada was necessary before any further sale action could proceed.

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Issues: Whether a proclamation of sale issued for recovery of tax arrears could be acted upon when it was not published in the language of the district as required by the applicable recovery procedure.

Analysis: Rule 52 of Schedule II to the Income-tax Act required the proclamation of intended sale of immovable property to be made also in the language of the district. The object of that requirement was to ensure that residents of the district could of the proposed sale and participate in the auction, so that the property could fetch a proper price. Since the proclamation was not issued in Kannada, the statutory requirement was not complied with. At the same time, the challenge was confined to the proclamation notice, and the notice itself need not be quashed merely because the sale date had expired; a fresh proclamation was necessary before any further sale proceedings.

Conclusion: The proclamation could not be acted upon for sale proceedings unless it was republished in the language of the district. The petitioner obtained relief to that extent, and the authority was required to issue a fresh sale proclamation in Kannada before proceeding further.

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