TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (2) TMI 123
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....ted in purchasing the flat, she approached the owners and finalized the terms of the deal. The Petitioner gave public notice on 1.2.2016 in two newspapers regarding the intended purchase and any person having any claim in respect of the property was requested to inform the Petitioner regarding the claim. The sale deed was thereafter, executed between the sellers of the flat in question and the petitioner, and the same was registered on 27.04.2016. 4. The sellers of the flat in question as well as the petitioner filed appropriate applications as required under the byelaws of the cooperative housing society for the purpose of transfer of name in the share certificate of the society. Transfer fees had also been duly paid to the society with respect to the flat in question. While the Petitioner had already taken possession of the flat on the basis of the registered sale deed and she was about to initiate the process of making renovations in the flat, she was informed by the Chairman of the society that the impugned notice had been received from Commercial Tax Officer of the State of Gujarat on 25.7.2016 regarding outstanding tax dues of a partnership firm "M/s Apurva Aluminium Corpora....
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....the action of the Respondent authorities in denying full right of ownership to the petitioner by issuing impugned notice is wholly without jurisdiction, bad and illegal. 7. Learned Advocate Mr.Sheth has further submitted that the respondent authority in any case does not have any jurisdiction under the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003(herein after referred to as Act) to issue the impugned notice to 'the Society of the Petitioner since the Petitioner had already purchased the flat before any proceeding was initiated by the VAT authorities. It was also contended that in case, the VAT authorities intended to stake any claim over the property for the alleged VAT dues then the only recourse available to them was to approach the Civil court. To strengthen his contention, he has placed reliance on the judgments in the case of Jayesh Vadilal Parekh Vs. Commercial Tax Officer, reported in (2015) 78 VST 19(Gujarat) and Tax Recovery Officer Vs. Gangadhar Vishwanath Ranade (Decd), reported in (1998) 234 LTR 188 (SC). He has also placed reliance on the judgment in the case of The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation of the City of Ahmedabad Vs. Haji Abdul Gafur Haji Hussenbhai, reported in AIR....
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....eed was executed by the petitioner with respect of Flat No.1005/B Wing, on 26.04.2016. The petitioner paid entire consideration of Rs. 7, 02,00,00,000/to the seller of the property in question prior to the registration of the saledeed. b. The sellers Sureshcandra N Shah and Dharmishtaben S Shah are partners of M/s.Apurva Aluminum Corporation. An outstanding demand to the tune of Rs. 7,61,94,462/is due and payable by the partnership firm. There is no relationship between the petitioner and the sellers. c. No charge is created on the property in question by the Respondent authorities. 12. Now adverting to the case before us, we notice that the affidavit filed by the respondent no.2 would suggest that the VAT dues to the tune of Rs. 7,61,94,462/have accrued for the period between the Years 1995 and 2007. The respondent authorities thus, have issued the impugned notice with respect to the aforesaid properties in the Year 2016, whereas the demand was pending since the Year 1995. The respondent authorities did not respond to the public notice given by the petitioner on 01.12.2016 in two newspapers and only after the saledeed was registered they informed the respondent no.3 Society n....
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....he receivers. It appears from the record, however, that he did in fact make enquiries from the receivers but they did not give any intimation. The plaintiff made a statement on oath that when he purchased the building in question it was occupied by the tenants and the rent used to be recovered by the receivers. There is no rebuttal to this evidence. Now, if the receivers were receiving rent from the tenants, the reasonable assumption would be that the Municipal taxes which were a charge on the property and which were also given priority under Section 61 of the Provincial Insolvency Act. 1920, had been duly paid by the receivers out of the rental income. The plaintiff could have no reasonable ground for assuming that they were in arrears. From the plaintiffs testimony it is clear that he did nevertheless make enquiries from the receivers if there were any dues against the property though the enquiry was not made specifically about Municipal dues. Apparently he was not informed about the arrears of Municipal taxes. This seems to us explainable on the ground that the receivers had, after securing appropriate orders, for some reason not clear on the record, omitted to pay the arrears o....
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....ides for the eventuality of the transaction hit by the said provisions as being void. It does not create any machinery for the Revenue authorities to entertain dispute and declare the transaction to be void for which purpose, only a civil suit would lie." "It is true that there is no explicit provision made under the GVAT Act as is provided under the IInd Schedule of the Income Tax Act, however, it is a well settled law that in the event of any dispute in relation to the title of any property, it is the civil court which shall have a jurisdiction. This has also been emphatically held and observed by the Apex Court in Tax Recovery Officer v. Gangadhar Viswanath Ranade (Decd) 234ITR 188(SC)....." 16. Unquestionably, in the present case no tax was due on the petitioner and no charge is created on the property in question in respect of the alleged dues of the erstwhile owner which is an essential requirement of the section. Hence, the applicability of the provisions of section 47 in the case of the petitioner itself is an argumentative issue. In such circumstances, the only recourse available for the VAT authorities is to approach the Civil Court to annul the transfer on the groun....