Recovery against third-party property barred where deceased dealer's tax liability cannot be enforced beyond the statutory estate limit.

The Gujarat HC held that tax dues of a deceased dealer could not be recovered by attaching a widow's personal property purchased and held in her own name. Section 57 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 limits recovery from a legal representative to the deceased dealer's estate, and the respondents failed to show that the disputed property formed part of that estate. Section 57(2) was inapplicable because it concerns partition of Hindu undivided family property, and the widow's prosecution of appeals after her husband's death did not amount to continuation of the business under section 57(1)(a). The charge on the property was therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the tax dues of a deceased dealer could be recovered by attaching the property purchased and owned by the widow in her own name, and whether section 57 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 authorised such recovery.

Analysis: The property stood in the petitioner's name under a registered sale deed, and there was no material to show any interest of the deceased dealer in that property. Under section 57(1)(b) of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003, where the dealer dies and the business is discontinued, liability of the legal representative is limited to payment out of the estate of the deceased to the extent capable of meeting the charge. The respondents were not proceeding against the estate of the deceased but against property belonging to the petitioner. Section 57(2) was also inapplicable because it concerns partition of property of a Hindu undivided family. Mere prosecution of appeals by the petitioner after her husband's death did not amount to continuation of the business within section 57(1)(a).

Conclusion: The respondents had no authority to recover the deceased dealer's tax dues from the petitioner's personal property, and the charge created on the subject property was unsustainable. The petitioner succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Liability under section 57 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 for a deceased dealer is confined to the statutory situations expressly provided therein and cannot be extended to attach property belonging to a third party in the absence of legal authority or proof that it forms part of the deceased's estate.

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