Third-party property sold in revenue recovery can still be valued and recovered by the true owner under the statute.

When property belonging to a person not liable for tax arrears is sold in revenue recovery proceedings, the owner may recover its value under the applicable revenue recovery statute. The text explains that a vehicle sold by revenue authorities in execution of an income-tax recovery certificate remained the owner's property despite the purchaser holding only limited rights under a hire-purchase arrangement. It further notes that the statutory remedy under section 17 of the Madras Revenue Recovery Act applies where such third-party property is sold, and that the owner's claim is not defeated merely because the claim petition was not finally disposed of before the dispute arose.

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Issues: Whether the owner of a vehicle sold by the revenue authorities in execution of an income-tax recovery certificate was entitled to recover the value of the vehicle where the purchaser was only a hirer under a hire-purchase agreement, and whether the claimant's remedy lay under the Revenue Recovery Act.

Analysis: The plaintiff remained the owner of the vehicle, while the defaulting purchaser had only limited rights under the hire-purchase arrangement. The amount realised on sale exceeded the amount payable to the plaintiff, and the lower appellate court's conclusion that the sale could not defeat the owner's rights was sustained. The Collector, acting under the income-tax recovery certificate, was required to proceed under the applicable revenue recovery law, and where property belonging to a person not responsible for the arrears was sold, the statutory remedy under section 17 of the Madras Revenue Recovery Act applied. The absence of a concluded disposal of the claim petition did not defeat the plaintiff's right to recover the value of the property in the facts of the case.

Conclusion: The plaintiff was entitled to recover compensation for the value of the vehicle under section 17 of the Madras Revenue Recovery Act, and the challenge to the decree failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where property of a person not liable for the arrears is sold in revenue recovery proceedings, the owner may recover its value under the applicable revenue recovery statute, and the sale cannot defeat the owner's subsisting rights merely because the defaulter had some limited interest in the property.

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