1971 (1) TMI 100

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....o tax under section 10 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1944, for six quarters ending March 31, 1947. The Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1944, was repealed and was replaced by the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947, but under section 32 of the Repealing Act liability to pay tax incurred before the date of such repeal and proceedings pending on the said date as also all proceedings initiated after the commencement of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1947, and relating to any such liability incurred before the date of such repeal were to be continued and disposed of or initiated and disposed of, as the case may be, as if the 1947 Act had not been enacted. In 1962 the Commissioner of Sales Tax revised the assessment of the Hindu undivided family and assessed it to pay Rs.....

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....inued by the two partners Mohan Lal and Lakshmi Prasad, whereas the other partners carried on another business. The Tax Officer sought to recover the tax assessed against the Hindu undivided family of Doma Sao Kishun Lall from the present appellant. Liability to pay sales tax is a statutory liability: it is not contractual. The liability to sales tax may be enforced by summary process only in the manner provided by the Act. Under section 4 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1944, every dealer whose gross turnover during the year immediately preceding the commencement of the Act exceeded Rs. 5,000 was liable to pay tax under the Act on sales effected after the date was so notified. Section 7 provided for registration of dealers. Section 9 provid....

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....f revenue or land revenue, or by the process authorized for the recovery of arrears of revenue or of the public revenue or of Government revenue. Since the appellant was not assessed to tax, it is necessary to enquire whether under the Bihar Sales Tax Act the tax could be recovered from the appellant. Section 17 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1944, provided, in so far as it is relevant: "When the ownership of the business of a registered dealer is entirely transferred, any tax payable in respect of such business remaining unpaid at the time of the transfer shall be payable by the transferee as if he were the registered dealer....." Without deciding that the business in respect of which the liability to pay tax arose was entirely trans....