TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1992 (3) TMI 54
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....on was attached under rule 48 of the Rules (read with Form I. T. C. P. 16). Thereafter, there was a proclamation of sale and sale of the property by public auction was held on August 19, 1987. The third respondent defaulter was in arrears of tax in a sum of Rs. 5,99,509. He did not choose to challenge the sale. However, the appellants invoked rule 61 of the Rules to set aside the said sale. The question is whether the appellants were competent to invoke the said rule 61, the relevant part of which reads : " 61. Application to set aside sale of immovable property on ground of non-service of notice or irregularity.-Where immovable property has been sold in execution of a certificate, the Income-tax Officer, the defaulter, or any person whose interests are affected by the sale, may, at any time within thirty days from the date of the sale, apply to the Tax Recovery Officer to set aside the sale of the immovable property on the ground that notice was not served on the defaulter to pay the arrears as required by this Schedule or on the ground of a material irregularity in publishing or conducting the sale Provided that - ...." (Omitted as unnecessary) The Tax Recovery Off....
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....by law. Under rule 16, the defaulter is incompetent to deal with his property in any manner which would include entering into an agreement to alienate the said properties ; therefore, such an agreement would not create any interest in the person who agreed to purchase the property. Rule 48 provides for attachment of the immovable property of the defaulter ; by virtue of rule 51, this attachment relates back to the date on which the notice to pay the arrears was issued. Therefore, in the instant case, the attachment related back to the year 1973 and thus, admittedly, on the date of the agreement there was an attachment of the property in question. Rule 16(1) which is relevant here reads: "16. Private alienation to be void in certain cases. - (1) Where a notice has been served on a defaulter under rule 2, the defaulter or his representative-in-interest shall not be competent to mortgage, charge, lease or otherwise deal with any property belonging to him except with the permission of the Tax Recovery Officer, nor shall any civil court issue any process against such property in execution of a decree for the payment of the money. " Mr. Sarangan wants us to hold that rule 16 ....
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....Bombay, AIR 1957 SC 521, the Explanation to section 6 of the Bombay Land Requisition Act, 1948, came up for consideration. The effect of the word " otherwise ", following certain other words, was construed as a word of extension and not a word of limitation and the rule of ejusdem generis was held as inapplicable to such a situation. At page 528, the Supreme Court observed : " As an offshoot of the argument that we have just been examining it was contended on behalf of the petitioner that Explanation (a) to section 6 quoted above contemplates a vacancy when a tenant (omitting other words not necessary) 'ceases to be in occupation upon termination of his tenancy, eviction, or assignment or transfer in any other manner of his interest in the premises or otherwise'. The argument proceeds further to the effect that in the instant case admittedly there was no termination, eviction, assignment or transfer and that the words 'or otherwise' must be construed as ejusdem generis with the words immediately preceding them ; and that, therefore, on the facts as admitted even in the affidavit filed on behalf of the Government there was in law no vacancy. In the first place, as already indicat....
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....ontract such as lost grant, immemorial user, etc. It appears to us that the word 'otherwise' in the context only means 'whatever may be the origin of the receipt of maintenance'. One of the objects of the legislation is to bypass the decrees of the courts and the Privy Council observed that the receipt of maintenance might even be out of the bounty. It is most likely that a word of the widest amplitude was used to cover even acts of charity and bounty. " The heading prefixed to a statutory provision is resorted to as an aid to construe the meaning of the provision only when the enacting words are ambiguous ; normally, the heading cannot curtail the scope of the enacted words. In Bhinka v. Charan Singh, AIR 1959 SC 960, 966, the Supreme Court quoted with approval the following statement of principle from Maxwell on the Interpretation of Statutes : "'The heading prefixed to sections or sets of sections in some modern statutes are regarded as preambles to those sections. They cannot control the plain words of the statute, but they may explain ambiguous words. If there is any doubt in the interpretation of the words in the section, the heading certainly helps us to resolve ....