Personal bank account attachment cannot recover company tax dues without a specific personal liability being established by law.

Recovery provisions under Section 87 of the Finance Act, 1994 permit garnishee-style recovery from persons owing money to the liable taxpayer, but they do not create a director's personal liability for a company's tax dues. Section 174(2)(e) of the CGST Act preserves only legally crystallised pre-GST liabilities and does not enlarge liability beyond what the law already fastens on the individual. Where the director's only personal liability was a penalty under Section 78A, and that penalty had already been paid, continued attachment of his personal bank account for the company's remaining dues was unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the Revenue could recover dues of the company from the personal bank account of its director under the post-GST recovery provisions, and whether the lien could be continued beyond the director's own penalty liability.

Analysis: The recovery machinery under Section 87 of the Finance Act, 1994 authorises recovery from money owing to the person against whom the liability exists and permits a garnishee type recovery from third parties, but it does not create a personal liability against a director for the company's tax dues. Section 174(2)(e) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 preserves recovery of crystallised liabilities under the repealed regime, but only to the extent such liability legally exists. The director's liability in the present case was confined to the penalty imposed under Section 78A of the Finance Act, 1994, and that amount had already been paid. In these circumstances, continued attachment of the director's personal account for the company's remaining dues was beyond the permissible scope of recovery.

Conclusion: The recovery notice and the balance lien against the petitioner's personal bank account were unsustainable, and the relief was granted in favour of the petitioner.

Final Conclusion: The petitioner could be proceeded against only for his own admitted penalty liability, which having been discharged, no further recovery from his personal assets for the company's dues could be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A director's personal bank account cannot be attached for recovery of company dues unless a specific personal liability is established by law; recovery provisions preserving old liabilities do not enlarge that liability beyond what is legally crystallised.

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