Statutory limitation on auction of attached immovable property bars delayed tax recovery sale despite purported consent.

Rule 68B of the Second Schedule to the Income-tax Act requires sale of attached immovable property for tax recovery within three years from the end of the financial year in which the demand becomes conclusive or final, subject to the statutory exclusions and extensions. Where the sale proclamation is issued long after that period, the sale is time-barred and the attachment is deemed vacated on expiry of limitation. A consent letter from the defaulter or heir does not waive statutory limitation or validate a sale prohibited by law. The proposed auction sale was therefore invalid and could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether the proposed auction sale of immovable properties attached for recovery of income tax dues was barred by limitation under Rule 68B of the Second Schedule to the Income-tax Act, 1961, and whether the petitioner's consent to sale precluded the challenge.

Analysis: Rule 68B introduced a specific time limit for sale of immovable property attached for tax recovery, requiring such sale to be made within three years from the end of the financial year in which the demand became conclusive or final, subject to the stated exclusions and extensions. The attached properties had been under attachment since 1997, whereas the sale proclamation was issued only in 2019, far beyond the permissible period. The statutory consequence under sub-rule (4) is that, on expiry of limitation, the attachment is deemed to have been vacated. The petitioner's letter consenting to sale was not an unconditional waiver and, in any event, statutory limitation goes to the root of the Revenue's power and cannot be overridden by consent.

Conclusion: The auction sale was time-barred under Rule 68B and could not be sustained. The challenge succeeded notwithstanding the petitioner's consent.

Ratio Decidendi: Where Rule 68B applies, the Revenue must complete sale of attached immovable property within the prescribed period, and any sale beyond that period is invalid; consent by the defaulter or heir cannot validate a sale prohibited by statute.

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