Revenue cannot proceed Against Wife’s Properties for Sales Tax Arrears of Husband: Kerala HC [Read Order]

The Kerala HighCourt recently affirmed that the revenue authorities cannot proceed against the property of a wife for sales tax arrears assessed upon her husband.

The observation was made by the High Court while adjudicating a writ petition filed by the petitioner Lincy Jojo, seeking protection from recovery actions against her property. The petitioner made out a case that the respondent Revenue were proposing to initiate revenue recovery proceedings against the petitioner for the amounts due from her husband.

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Accordingly, the petitioner sought directions from the High Court that no proceedings be initiated against property of the petitioner, any of the movables situated in the house where she resided on a rental basis for the alleged sales tax liability of her husband.

When the matter was heard by the Kerala High Court on 5 December 2025, Senior Government Pleader Reshmitha R Chandran, representing the State authorities clarified that no proceedings had been initiated against the petitioner or her property.

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It was submitted that the recovery steps mentioned in the writ petition were issued only against the petitioner’s husband, who was the defaulter, and that no action was taken by the third respondent Tahsildar against the petitioner in respect of her husband’s liability. The State further confirmed that the revenue recovery proceedings were confined exclusively to the assessee against whom tax dues had been assessed.

G.Sreekumar appeared for the petitioner.

The Bench of Ziyad Rahman A.A. The Court took note of the submissions made by the Revenue and observed that there was no subsisting cause of action warranting further consideration of the writ petition and accordingly closed the same.

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The single-judge Bench preserved the petitioner’s right to seek redress in the event that the authorities at any point, issues notice to the petitioner to attempt recovery against her property for the liability of her husband.

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