Statutory protection for bona fide purchasers must be proved before recovery authorities before writ quashing is sought.

A purchaser seeking protection under the proviso to Section 281 for an attached property must first establish bona fide purchase, adequate consideration, and absence of notice before the Tax Recovery Officer. Because the factual foundation for that statutory protection had not yet been placed before the competent recovery authority, immediate writ quashing of the recovery communication was not granted. The applicant was directed to appear before the Tax Recovery Officer and adduce supporting evidence, while coercive steps were stayed until that exercise was completed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the writ applicant was entitled to immediate quashing of the recovery communication, or should first appear before the Tax Recovery Officer and establish protection under the proviso to Section 281.

Analysis: The communication was founded on an attachment already made in recovery proceedings under the Second Schedule to the Income-tax Act, 1961. The writ applicant claimed to be a bona fide purchaser without notice and relied on the proviso to Section 281, which protects a transfer made for adequate consideration and without notice of the pending proceedings or tax liability. The Court held that this factual foundation had first to be placed before the Tax Recovery Officer, since the petitioner had not yet responded to the impugned communication or shown entitlement to the statutory protection.

Conclusion: The writ applicant was required to appear before the Tax Recovery Officer and adduce evidence in support of his claim, and the request for immediate quashing was not granted.

Final Conclusion: The matter was disposed of by relegating the writ applicant to the statutory authority for consideration of his claim, while protecting him from coercive steps until that exercise was completed.

Ratio Decidendi: A purchaser claiming protection against transfer of an attached property must first establish the statutory requirements before the competent recovery authority, and writ relief is not warranted until that remedy is pursued.

---