Attachment of immovable property and limitation under Rule 68B: proclamation held within limitation; writ petition dismissed.

An attachment order for immovable property was challenged as time-barred under Rule 68B; the limitation was held to run from the end of the financial year following dismissal of the special leave petition, so the proclamation of sale dated 12.06.2018 fell within the threeyear period and remained valid. The legal fiction in Rule 65B(4) provides for vacating attachment if sale is not taken within the prescribed period, but Part III is confined to attachment and sale and does not curtail other recovery remedies. A subsequent certificate limiting recovery to a specified sum was accepted as meritorious in part, but earlier proceedings under the first certificate were within limitation; the writ petition fails.

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Issues: Whether the proclamation of sale under Part III of the Second Schedule for recovery of tax is barred by the three year limitation in Rule 68B on the ground that the order giving rise to the demand had become final earlier than the date relied on by the Revenue.

Analysis: Rule 68B(1) prescribes a three year prohibition on sale of immovable property to be reckoned from the end of the financial year in which the order giving rise to the demand becomes conclusive under Section 245-I or final under Chapter XX. The assessment order was challenged before the High Court and thereafter by Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court. Finality for the purposes of Chapter XX is the point at which the order is no longer capable of being set aside, modified or revised under the statutory appeal provisions. Section 261 provides for a statutory route to the Supreme Court by certificate; absent use of that route, a Special Leave Petition still meant the assessment could be set aside or modified by the Supreme Court until the SLP was dismissed. The SLP was dismissed on 15.05.2015, which falls in financial year 2015-16; therefore the limitation period under Rule 68B is to be reckoned from 31.03.2016 and runs until 31.03.2019. The proclamation of sale dated 12.06.2018 falls within that period. The fact of a later certificate for a specified lesser sum does not negate the validity of proceedings under the earlier certificate where limitation is satisfied.

Conclusion: The proclamation of sale is not barred by limitation under Rule 68B and the writ petition is dismissed; result is against the petitioner and in favour of the Revenue.

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