D G GOSE AND CO AGENTS PRIVATE LIMITED S K SUBRAMANIAN CUSTOMS CLEARING AGENTS ASSOCIATION ALEX CHERIYAN SOUTH CORPORATION PRIVATE LIMITED N KUNHIRAMAN ABRAHAM ABRAHAM K G BHASKARAN MRS LU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These cases relate to the validity of certain provisions of the Kerala Buildings Tax Act, 1975, hereinafter referred to as the Act, and are directed against the judgment of the Kerala High Court dated June 12, 1978, by which the validity of those provisions has been upheld. We have heard these cases together and shall deal with them in this judgment.

(2.) In order to appreciate the controversy, it will be convenient to make a brief mention of the background of the Act.

(3.) The Legislature of the Kerala State wanted to impose a tax on buildings, and passed the Kerala Building Tax Act, 1961, which came into force on March 2, 1961. Its validity was challenged, and by his judgment dated November 20, 1964, a learned single Judge of the High Court held, it to be invalid and unconstitutional. The Division Bench took the same view in its judgment dated July 7, 1966, and dismissed the appeal of the State. The matter came to this Court, and it also dismissed the appeal by its judgment dated August 13, 1968, reported in State of Kerala v. Haji K. Kutty Naha, (1969) 1 SCR 645. This was so because the Legislautre had adopted merely the floor area of the building as the basis of the tax irrespective of all other considerations. The intention to introduce a fresh Bill and to levy a non-recurring tax on building was stated in the Finance Minister's budget speech of 1970-71. A Bill was published some time in June, 1970, and it was stated there that the Act would be brought into force with effect from April 1, 1970. The Bill was introduced in Legislative Assembly on July 5, 1973, and was referred to a Select Committee. The Committee submitted its report on March 28, 1974. It recommended that the Act may be brought into force from April 1, 1973. As the Bill could not be taken up during the budget session, the Government of the State promulgated the Kerala Building Tax Ordinance, 1974, on July 27, 1974 to give effect to the provisions of the Bill as reported by the Select Committee. It was followed by another Ordinance dated November 18, 1974 on the lines of the earlier Ordinance. The Bill was passed soon after, and the Governor gave his assent to it on April 2, 1975. Several writ petitions were filed in the High Court to challenge its constitutional validity, and we have made a mention of the High Court's impugned judgment dated June 12, 1975, from which the present cases have arisen. While four Honb'e Judges of the High Court have upheld the validity of the Act, a different view has been taken by Eradi J.