Director's personal assets cannot be attached for a company's tax dues without statutory basis or veil-lifting foundation.

A director's personal properties could not be attached for recovery of a company's tax dues under the Gujarat Value Added Tax framework and the Bombay Land Revenue Code because no statutory provision fastened the company's liability on the director. The Court held that, in the absence of an express legal basis or material justifying lifting of the corporate veil, authorities cannot proceed against a director's personal assets merely due to the director's association with the company. On the facts before it, no such foundation was shown, so the attachment orders against the petitioner's personal properties were quashed.

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Issues: Whether the personal properties of a company's director could be attached for recovery of the company's tax dues under the Gujarat Value Added Tax framework and the Bombay Land Revenue Code.

Analysis: The governing legal position was that, absent a statutory provision fastening a company's tax liability on its directors, the authorities cannot proceed against the directors' personal assets merely because they are associated with the company. The earlier decisions relied upon had already held that the relevant VAT provisions do not create personal liability of directors for the company's dues, and that attachment of directors' properties to secure such dues is impermissible in the absence of a specific order or factual basis justifying lifting of the corporate veil. The materials before the Court did not show any such foundation.

Conclusion: The issue was answered in favour of the petitioner. The attachment of the director's personal properties for the company's dues was held to be unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The impugned attachment orders were quashed, and the petition succeeded to the extent of setting aside the recoveries against the petitioner's personal properties.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of an express statutory provision or a legally established basis to lift the corporate veil, a company's tax liability cannot be enforced against a director's personal properties.

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