CENTRAL WAREHOUSING CORPORATION Vs. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short and the only question that arises for consideration in these appeals is whether the godowns situated within municipal limits owned by the appellant, a Corporation established under Section 3 of the Warehousing Corporation Act, are liable to pay property tax under the Municipal Corporation Act (in brief 'the Act') or it is exempt either under Section 135 of the Act or under Article 285 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) For the latter no factual foundation was laid either before the High court or this court. Property of the Union of India under Article 285 of the Constitution of India is undoubtedly exempt from payment of tax But whetherthe property for which exemption is claimed is of Union of India or not is primarily a question of fact. Corporations established under the Act may be an instrumentality of the State yet it has a separate and independent identity. The property owned by the appellant thus could not be held to be property of Union of India either as a matter of law or as a fact.

(3.) Even the claim that the building was exempt from payment of tax under Section 135 of the Act is misconceived. Relevant parts of the section are extracted below: