Recovery as arrears of land revenue need not follow every intermediate step before immovable property is proceeded against.
Where dues are recoverable as arrears of land revenue, the recovery machinery under the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act does not, without clear words, require the Collector to exhaust every prior mode under section 279(a) to (e) before proceeding against immovable property. The challenge on that ground failed. An auction sale will also not be set aside unless material irregularity or mistake in conducting the sale is shown to have caused substantial injury; here, the complaints about sale of movables after sufficient realisation and alleged denial of relief under rule 285-H were not properly established. The recovery proceedings and sale were upheld.
Issues: (i) Whether section 286(2) of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act required the Collector, before proceeding against immovable property for sums recoverable as arrears of land revenue, to exhaust first the processes mentioned in section 279(a) to (e). (ii) Whether the auction sale was liable to be set aside for material irregularity because the movables were sold after the immovable property had already fetched more than the amount due, or because the company was allegedly deprived of the opportunity to seek relief under rule 285-H of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Rules, 1952.
Issue (i): Whether section 286(2) of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act required the Collector, before proceeding against immovable property for sums recoverable as arrears of land revenue, to exhaust first the processes mentioned in section 279(a) to (e).
Analysis: The liability in question arose under other enactments but was recoverable as arrears of land revenue. The Act merely prescribed the machinery for recovery. The language of section 286(2) did not impose a further condition that the Collector must first exhaust every process under section 279(a) to (e) before resorting to immovable property. Reading such a restriction into the provision would alter the substantive provisions of the statutes under which the dues arose and would also be inconsistent with the execution powers available under the Code of Civil Procedure, which permit attachment and sale of property without any rigid sequence of remedies.
Conclusion: The provision was not construed as requiring prior exhaustion of all earlier recovery processes, and the challenge on that ground failed.
Issue (ii): Whether the auction sale was liable to be set aside for material irregularity because the movables were sold after the immovable property had already fetched more than the amount due, or because the company was allegedly deprived of the opportunity to seek relief under rule 285-H of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Rules, 1952.
Analysis: Although the sale of the movables after the immovable property had realised a sum far exceeding the dues was not satisfactorily explained, the point had not been properly raised before the revenue authorities or the High Court, and no factual foundation was laid for holding the sale invalid on that basis. The alleged inability to invoke rule 285-H was also not established; the rule still afforded an opportunity to deposit the prescribed amounts, but no such deposit was made. The record did not show material irregularity or mistake in publishing or conducting the sale sufficient to prove substantial injury so as to warrant setting the sale aside.
Conclusion: The sale was not shown to be vitiated and the objection to confirmation of sale failed.
Final Conclusion: The recovery proceedings and the auction sale were upheld, and the purchaser's title was left undisturbed.
Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute provides for recovery of sums as arrears of land revenue, the recovery machinery it supplies does not, without clear words, impose a mandatory order of exhaustion of all intermediate modes of recovery before proceeding against immovable property, and a sale will not be set aside absent proven material irregularity causing substantial injury.
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