Recovery certificate against a firm cannot justify attachment of a partner's personal property without individual naming.
Recovery of a customs penalty could be enforced only against the person or entity named in the recovery certificate. The High Court found that the certificate was issued against the firm alone, while the petitioner's immovable properties were attached in his personal capacity. Since no certificate had been issued against him individually, his status as a partner did not authorise attachment of his personal property. The attempted recovery was therefore without jurisdiction, and the attachment proceedings were invalid and set aside.
Issues: Whether the attachment of the petitioner's immovable properties for recovery of a customs penalty imposed on a firm was valid when the recovery certificate had been issued only against the firm and not against the petitioner in his individual capacity.
Analysis: The proceedings were founded on a certificate issued by the Customs authority for recovery of penalty imposed under Section 167(8) of the Sea Customs Act, 1878. The certificate produced before the Court was shown to be against the firm alone. On that basis, recovery could be pursued only against the person or entity named in the certificate. The fact that the petitioner was a partner of the firm did not authorise attachment of his personal property when no certificate had been issued against him individually. The attempted recovery against him was therefore beyond jurisdiction.
Conclusion: The attachment proceedings against the petitioner were invalid and were set aside; the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.
Final Conclusion: Recovery of the customs penalty could not be enforced against the petitioner's personal properties on the strength of a certificate issued only against the firm, and the impugned attachment was quashed.
Ratio Decidendi: A recovery certificate can be enforced only against the person named in it, and attachment of the property of another person is without jurisdiction.
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