Section 79 permits recovery of tax dues from third parties...

Section 79 permits recovery of tax dues from third parties without any separate statutory requirement of prior authorization before recovery proceedings are initiated. The High Court found that the jurisdictional Deputy Assistant Commissioner (ST) was the notified proper officer under the Gazette notification, so the notice could not be challenged for want of competence. It also held that once the assessment order had attained finality, no further prior notice to the dealer was required before issuing a garnishee notice to the bank. The recovery notice was therefore lawful and the writ petition was dismissed.

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