Director liability under tax recovery law requires winding up or liquidation; direct attachment without that basis was unsustainable.

Section 16B of the APGST Act, 1957 fastens liability on directors of a private company only in the context of winding up or liquidation; it does not permit direct recovery against an ex-director merely because recovery from the company has not succeeded. Where the company had not been wound up and the record did not show prior effective recovery steps against the company or a basis for proceeding personally against the ex-director, the statutory precondition for attachment was absent. On that basis, attachment of the ex-director's property was unsustainable, and the challenge succeeded.

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Issues: Whether arrears of tax could be recovered by attachment of the property of an ex-director under Section 16B of the APGST Act, 1957 when the company was not wound up and recovery from the company had not been exhausted.

Analysis: Section 16B fastens liability on directors of a private company only in the context of winding up or liquidation, and the provision does not create an automatic right to proceed against a director merely because recovery from the company has not succeeded. The record showed that the company had not been wound up, and the impugned attachment did not disclose any prior effective steps taken to recover the dues from the company or the basis for proceeding directly against the ex-director. In these circumstances, the statutory precondition for invoking personal recovery against the director was absent.

Conclusion: Recovery by attachment against the ex-director was unsustainable, and the challenge succeeded.

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