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20. It was further more held :

"5....Reliance was next placed on a Full Bench decision of the Allahabad High Court in Nawal Kishore V. The Municipal Board, Agra, ILR (1943). All 453 = (AIR 1943 All 115 (FB)). According to this decision the question of constructive notice is a question of fact which falls to be determined on the evidence and circumstances of each case. But that Court felt that there was a principle on which question of constructive notice could rest, that principle being that all intending purchasers of the property in municipal areas where the property is subject to a municipal tax which has been made a charge on the property by statute have a constructive knowledge of the tax and of the possibility of some arrears being due with the result that it becomes their duty before acquiring the property to make enquiries as to the amount of tax which is due or which may be due and if they fail to make this enquiry such failure amounts to a wilful abstention or gross negligence within the meaning of Section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act and notice must be imputed to them."
11. What is important to note is that this entire purchase was done by the Petitioners before the alleged dues of the Sales Tax Authorities was brought to their notice. The chronology of events set out above clearly indicates that the Petitioners placed their bid for purchasing the said property on 1 September, 2010 along with their earnest money deposit. Thereafter, the sale was confirmed in favour of the Petitioners on 15 September, 2010, once the sale was confirmed the Petitioners on 22 September, 2010 paid the balance purchase price and thereafter a Sale Certificate was also issued in favour of the Petitioners on 23 September, 2010. Thereafter, a Deed of Conveyance was executed by Respondent No.1 in favour of the Petitioners in respect of the suit property and which was registered with the Registrar of Assurances on 10 March, 2011. It is, at the time of execution and registration of this Deed of Conveyance, that the Petitioners for the first time perused the 7/12 extract relating to the suit property and learnt that there was an encumbrance of the Sales Tax Department to the extent of Rs.18,38,709/-. As mentioned earlier, these dues of the Sales Tax, the Petitioners would have to pay / liquidate, if not already done so. As far as the dues of the Sales Tax to the extent of Rs.28 Crores are concerned, the same was brought to the notice of the Petitioners much thereafter. It is not even the case of the Sales Tax Department that the Petitioners had either informed or had constructive knowledge of their dues, save and except to the extent of Rs.18,38,709/-. This being the factual position, we find considerable force in the argument of Mr Dada that the Sales Tax dues (save and except to the extent of Rs.18,38,709/-) cannot be recovered by enforcing their alleged charge under Section 38C of the BST Act against the said property, C/SCA/4905/2022 JUDGMENT DATED: 18/04/2022 legitimately purchased by the Petitioners and without having any notice of the alleged dues of the Sales Tax Authorities.

21. Ahmedabad Municipal Corpn. [(1971) 1 SCC 757, 759-61 (paras 3 & 4) : AIR 1971 SC 1201, 1202-04(para

3)] was a case where a person was in arrears of property tax, due under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949. Consequently, the Municipal Corporation created a charge over the property of the defaulter. However, the property was sold in execution of a mortgage decree. When the Municipal Corporation purported to exercise their charge over the property, the purchaser in court auction filed a suit for a declaration that he was the owner of the property and that the arrears of municipal taxes due by the transferor were not recoverable from him by proceeding against the property purchased in the auction. In the appeal before this Court, the Municipal Corporation's main argument was that where the local law provided for the creation of a charge against a property for which municipal taxes were due, transferees of such properties were imputed with C/SCA/4905/2022 JUDGMENT DATED: 18/04/2022 constructive knowledge of any charge created against the properties that they had purchased. This argument was, however, rejected. This Court held that while constructive notice was sufficient to satisfy the requirement of notice in the proviso to Section 100 of the TP Act, whether the transferee had constructive notice of the charge had to be determined on the facts and circumstances of the case. [Ibid., at SCC pp. 765-66 (para 12) : AIR pp. 1207- 08(para 8)] In other words, this Court held that there could be no fixed presumption as to the transferee having constructive notice of the charge against the property. In fact, the principle laid down in Ahmedabad Municipal Corpn. [(1971) 1 SCC 757, 759-61 (paras 3 & 4) : AIR 1971 SC 1201, 1202-04(para 3)] has been correctly applied in a sales tax case similar to the present case. [CTO v. R.K. Steels, (1998) 108 STC 161 (Mad)] (emphasis supplied)

14. In the facts of the present case and considering this authoritative pronouncement of the Supreme Court, we have no hesitation in holding that the Petitioners, having no knowledge (either actual or constructive) of the dues of the Sales Tax Authorities before they purchased the said property, the Sale Tax Authorities cannot recover their dues from the Petitioners by enforcing their charge against the said property.