SHABINAABRAHAM & ORS. versus COLLECTOR OF CENTRAL EXCISE & CUSTOMS

Citation: [2015] 8 S.C.R. 151 · Decided: 29-07-2015 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: A.K. SIKRI · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · cites 2 · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

[2015] 8 S.C.R. 151 
SHABINAABRAHAM & ORS. 
v. 
COLLECTOR OF CENTRAL EXCISE & CUSTOMS· 
(Civil Appeal No. 5802 of 2005) 
JULY29, 2015 
[A. K. SIKRI AND R. F. NARIMAN, JJ.] 
A 
8 
Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 - s. 4(3)(a) -
Assessment under - Whether can continue against the legal c 
representatives/estate of the sole proprietor/ manufacturer 
after he is dead - Held: There is no separate machinery 
provided by the Act to proceed against a dead person for , 
assessing him totax under.the Act- In view of definition of 
assessee u/s. s.4(3)(a), ati 'assessee' can only be a living D 
person - The definition being exhaustive in nature, nothing 
else can be read in the definition - Even the definition of 
''person" in the General Clauses Act does not include legal 
representatives of persons since deceased- By interpreting 
the provisions of the Act, the legal heirs who are not E 
chargeable to duty under the Act, cannot be brought within 
the ambit of the Act by stretching its provisions - Income Tax 
Act, 1922 -
General Clauses Act, 1897 ~ s.3(42) -
Interpretation of Statutes. 
Words and Phrases: 
'Jl\ssessee" - ·Meaning of, in the context of Central 
Excises andSalt Act, 1944. 
F 
"Person" - Meaning of, in the context of s.3(42) of G 
General Clauses Act, 1897. 
Allowing the appeal, the Court · 
HELD: 1.1 There is no separate machinery H 
151 
152 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2015) 8 S.C.R. 
A provided by the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 to 
proceed against a dead person when it comes to 
assessing him to tax under the Act. [Para 8) [163-0) 
1.2 The position under the Income Tax Act, 1922 
B was also the same until Section 248 was introduced by 
the Income Tax (Second Amendment) Act of 1933. The 
definition of "assessee" contained in Section 4(3)(a) of 
the Central Excises and Salt Act is similar to the definition 
of assessee contained in the Income Tax Act, 1922. 
C Under that Act, an assessee means "a person by whom 
income tax is payable." Under the Central Excises and 
Salt Act, an assessee means "the person who is liable 
to pay the duty of excise under this Act". The present 
tense being used, it is clear that the person referred to 
D can only be a living person. Further, the only extension 
of the definition of "assessee" under the Central Excises 
and Salt Act is that it would also include an assessee's 
agent, which has nothing to do with the facts of the 
present case. A "means and includes" definition is 
E exhaustive in nature and there is no scope to read 
anything further into the said definition. The notice that 
is served under Section 11A is only on the person 
chargeable with excise duty, i.e. "assessee" as defined. 
F It cannot be said that the principles applied in the case 
of the Income Tax Act should not be applied to the Central 
Excises and Salt Act as the latter Act is a tax on 
manufacture of goods and not on persons. [Paras 9, 17, 
18 and 20) [163-E; 172-D-H; 173-A; 174-A-B] 
G 
1.3 It is not correct to say that the insertion of the 
proviso to Section 11 by an Amendment Act of 2004 so 
as to provide that if a person from whom some recoveries 
are due, transfers his business to another person, then 
H the excisable goods in the possession of the transferee 
can also be attached and sold. It also cannot be said 
SHABINAABRAHAM & ORS. v. COLLECTOR OF 
153 
CENTRAL EXCISE & CUSTOMS 
that the Legislature's need to add the proviso shows that A 
nothing can be read into the Central Excises and Salt 
Act by implication. Section .11 deals with an entirely 
different situation and the addition of the proviso therein 
is not of much significance as far as the question which 
is required to be answered in the present case. Section B 
11 is limited only to recovery of sums that are due to the 
Government. If such sums are not "payable" then the 
provisions of the Section do not get attracted at all. The 
Act contains no machinery provisions for proceeding C 
against a dead person's legal heirs. Therefore, duty and 
other sums do not become "payable" without such 
machinery provisions. Further, Section 11 deals with 
modes of recovery of tax payable and does not deal with 
the subject matter in .the present case - namely 0 
machinery provisions for assessment in the hands of 
the estate of a dead person. [Para 19] [173-B-E] 
1.4 Section 3 (42) of General Clauses Act, 1897, 
which defines 'person', does not include legal 
representatives of persons who are since deceased. E 
Equally, Section 6 of

Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.