Finalised assessment orders cannot be reopened, while excise recovery is confined to inherited estate assets only.

Concluded assessment orders that had been passed during the assessee's lifetime and had attained finality could not be reopened in the writ petition, so the challenge to those orders was not maintainable. Recovery of excise duty, however, was confined to movable and immovable assets inherited from the deceased assessee's estate, including inherited cash if any. The petitioner's personal property could not be proceeded against, and personal arrest or detention for recovery was not permitted. The writ therefore failed on the challenge to the concluded assessments but succeeded in limiting enforcement to inherited assets only.

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Issues: (i) Whether the assessment orders for the relevant excise duty assessment years could be challenged in the writ petition. (ii) Whether recovery of the excise duty could be enforced against the petitioner personally or was confined to property inherited from his father.

Issue (i): Whether the assessment orders for the relevant excise duty assessment years could be challenged in the writ petition.

Analysis: The assessment orders had been passed during the lifetime of the petitioner's father and had attained finality. A challenge to those concluded orders was therefore not open to the petitioner.

Conclusion: The challenge to the assessment orders was rejected and the petitioner was held precluded from disputing them.

Issue (ii): Whether recovery of the excise duty could be enforced against the petitioner personally or was confined to property inherited from his father.

Analysis: Recovery was held to be permissible only against movable and immovable properties inherited by the petitioner from his father. It could not be enforced against the petitioner's personal property, nor could he be arrested and detained for such recovery. If any cash had been inherited, recovery could also be made from that amount.

Conclusion: Recovery was confined to the inherited estate and personal recovery against the petitioner was not permitted.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed on the challenge to the assessment orders but succeeded in restricting recovery to the inherited assets of the deceased assessee's estate.

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