179.
| (1)Where the Commissioner-General is of opinion in any case that recovery of tax in default by seizure and sale is impracticable or inexpedient, or where the full amount of the tax has not been recovered by seizure and sale, he may issue a certificate containing particulars of such tax and the name and last known place of business or residence of the defaulter to a Magistrate having jurisdiction in the division in which such place is situate. The Magistrate shall thereupon summon such defaulter before him to show cause why further proceedings for the recovery of the tax should not be taken against him, and in default of sufficient cause being shown the tax in default shall be deemed to be a fine imposed by a sentence of the Magistrate on such defaulter for an offence punishable with fine only or not punishable with imprisonment, and the provisions of subsection (1) of section 291 (except paragraph (a), (d) and (i) thereof) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 relating to default of payment of a fine imposed for such an offence shall thereupon apply, and the Magistrate may make any direction which, by the provisions of that subsection, he could have made at the time of imposing such sentence. |
|
| (2) The correctness of any statement in a certificate issued by the Commissioner-General for the purposes of subsection (1), shall not be called in question or examined by the Magistrate in any proceeding under this section and accordingly, nothing in that subsection shall be read and construed as authorizing a Magistrate to consider, or decide the correctness of any statement in such certificate or to postpone or defer such proceeding for a period exceeding thirty days, by reason only of the fact that an appeal is pending against the assessment in respect of which the tax in default is charged. |
|
| (3) Nothing in subsections (2) to (5) of section 291 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979, shall apply in any case referred to in subsection (1) of this section. |
|
| (4) In any case referred to in subsection (1) in which the defaulter is sentenced to imprisonment in default of payment of the fine deemed by that subsection to have been imposed on him, the Magistrate may allow time for the payment of the amount of that fine or direct payment of that amount to be made in instalments. |
|
| (5) The Court may require bail to be given as a condition precedent to allowing time under subsection (1) for showing cause as therein provided, or under subsection (4) for the payment of the fine; and the provisions of Chapter XXXIV of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979, shall apply, where the defaulter is so required to give bail. |
|
| (6) Where a Magistrate directs under subsection (4) that payment be made in instalments and default is made in the payment of any one instalment, proceedings may be taken as if default had been made in payment of all the instalments then remaining unpaid. |
|
| (7) In any proceeding under subsection (1), the Commissioner-General's certificate shall be sufficient evidence that the tax has been duly assessed and is in default, and any plea that the tax is excessive, incorrect, or under appeal, shall not be entertained. |
|
|
Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts