Personal recovery of company VAT dues from a director's bank account is unlawful without express statutory authority.

A company's VAT liability cannot be recovered from a director's personal bank account unless the VAT law expressly fastens that liability on the director. The director was proceeded against only because of his office, but the taxable entity remained the company, and the Court noted that VAT law contained no provision comparable to Section 179 of the Income-tax Act authorising personal recovery from a director or his property. In the absence of a statutory basis or conscious order imposing such liability, attachment of the director's personal account was unlawful and had to be lifted; the company's dues remained recoverable only against the company in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the department could attach and recover a company's VAT dues from the personal bank account of its director in the absence of any statutory provision fastening the company's tax liability on the director.

Analysis: The writ applicant was proceeded against only because he was a director of the defaulting company. The demand remained a liability of the company, which was the taxable entity under the VAT regime. The Court noted that, unlike Section 179 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the VAT law contained no provision authorising recovery of the company's dues from a director personally or from the director's personal property. In the absence of a conscious order or statutory basis fastening such liability on the director, the attachment of the personal bank account could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The attachment of the petitioner's personal bank account was unlawful and liable to be lifted, while the company's dues remained recoverable only against the company in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of an express statutory provision fastening a company's tax liability on its director, recovery of the company's dues cannot be made from the director's personal assets or bank account.

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