NAKUL KAPUR Vs. NDMC

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present intra-Court appeal under Clause X of the Letters Patent raises two issues. Firstly, whether the principle of parity and equivalence is applicable and should be applied to the facts of the present case, as per the ratio in Lt. Colonel P.R. Choudhary (Retd.) versus Municipal Corporation of Delhi, 2000 4 SCC 577 and secondly whether section 109 of the New Delhi Municipal Council Act (Act, for short) has been misconstrued by the learned single Judge and is applicable.

(2.) The appellants mother vide sale deed dated 16 th November, 1995 purchased and acquired interest in a plot of land measuring 375 square yards with two and half storied residential construction bearing No. 36, Malcha Marg, Chananakya Puri, New Delhi. As per the sale deed, the total consideration paid by the mother to acquire the property was Rs.1,60,00,000/-. The existing annual rateable value of the property at the time of purchase was 72,100/-. This rateable value was calculated on the basis of the cost of construction and the value of the land on the date when the construction commenced. This was in accord with the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court in Dewan Daulat Rai Kapoor versus New Delhi Municipal Committee, 1980 AIR(SC) 541 and Dr. Balbir Singh versus MCD, 1985 AIR(SC) 339.

(3.) Though, the mother of the appellant had purchased the property for Rs.1,60,00,000/-, the rateable value was not revised and had continued to remain the same till 1 st April 2004.