G VENKATASUBBAIAH Vs. TAX RECOVERY OFFICER VIJAYAWADA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two writ petitions are by the directors of Andhra Automobiles (Private) Ltd., Vijayawada, a company, registered under the Indian Companies Act in the year 1946. The 1st petitioner in Writ Petition No. 4568 of 1970 died and bis sou has been brought on record. Writ Petition No. M.P. 5544/71 to that effect has been filed and ordered to-day.

(2.) THE case of the petitioners is that the company ceased to carry on any business after 1955. On 26th June, 1955, the Registrar of Companies, Hyderabad, issued a notification under Section 560(5) of the Companies Act, 1956, striking off the company from the register. This company had been assessed to income-tax under the Income-tax Act, 1922, for the assessment years 1953-54 to 1957-58 and a sum of Rs. 31,172.24 was found due by the company towards income-tax. On March 5, 1970, the Income-tax Officer, Ward-I, Vijayawada, issued notices to the petitioners stating that they were personally liable to pay the tax due by the company under Section 179 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. It is these notices which are sought to be quashed in these writ petitions.

(3.) THE basic condition that is necessary for the application of the aforesaid Section 179 is that a private company should have been wound up after the commencement of the 1961 Act. It is only when this condition is fulfilled that the other provisions of Section 179 are attracted. THE question for consideration, therefore, is whether Section 179 is applicable to a case where the company has not been wound up at all and there is nothing to show that it was wound up after the commencement of this Act. THE petitioners in ground No. 5 taken in W. P. No. 4784 of 1970 have specifically stated that: