https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=4463 A government's preferential right to recover public dues does not override a secured creditor's enforcement rights under SARFAESI unless the revenue statute expressly creates a first charge or priority. The High Court held that the principle of priority of State debts applies to ordinary unsecured creditors, not to secured creditors acting under a mortgage or security interest. Because neither the Central Excise Act, 1944 nor the Customs Act, 1962 conferred a statutory first charge in favour of the revenue, the general recovery powers of those laws could not displace the secured creditor's claim. The revenue's preferential claim was rejected and the secured creditors' rights prevailed. en-us Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0530 Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:13:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=4463 A government's preferential right to recover public dues does not override a secured creditor's enforcement rights under SARFAESI unless the revenue statute expressly creates a first charge or priority. The High Court held that the principle of priority of State debts applies to ordinary unsecured creditors, not to secured creditors acting under a mortgage or security interest. Because neither the Central Excise Act, 1944 nor the Customs Act, 1962 conferred a statutory first charge in favour of the revenue, the general recovery powers of those laws could not displace the secured creditor's claim. The revenue's preferential claim was rejected and the secured creditors' rights prevailed. Case-Laws Central Excise Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=4463