Recovery from legal heirs requires statutory machinery; deceased sole proprietor's service-tax garnishee demand could not be enforced.

Service-tax recovery cannot be enforced against the legal representatives of a deceased sole proprietor where the governing framework provides no machinery for assessment or recovery against the deceased person's estate or heirs. A proprietorship has no legal personality separate from its proprietor, and a demand determined during the proprietor's lifetime does not, by itself, make the dues payable by legal heirs. Applying the corresponding recovery principle under the Central Excise framework, the article notes that recovery from the legal representatives was impermissible and the garnishee demand notice was quashed.

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Issues: Whether a service-tax recovery demand may be enforced against the legal representatives of a deceased sole proprietor in the absence of statutory machinery provisions authorising such recovery.

Analysis: A proprietorship has no legal personality distinct from its proprietor. The governing recovery framework contains no machinery for assessment or recovery against the estate or legal representatives of a deceased person. The principle applicable to recovery provisions pari materia with Section 11 of the Central Excise Act was applied: sums cannot become payable by legal heirs merely because the demand had been determined during the proprietor's lifetime.

Conclusion: Recovery of the deceased proprietor's service-tax dues from the legal representatives was impermissible; the garnishee demand notice was quashed.

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