BALLABH DASS AGGARWAL Vs. NEW DELHI MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India is directed against the order of the Additional District Magistrate, Delhi dated 20th December 1972 whereby the learned Judge disposed of three house-tax appeals for the assessment years 1970-71, 1971-72 and 1972-73 and set aside the enhancement of annual value of property bearing no. 4, Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi from Rs. 30.000.00 to Rs. 58,740.00 and remanded the case back to the New Delhi Municipal Committee for assessment of the out-house of the said property.

(2.) The main contention of the petitioner in this case is that once the standard rent was fixed, merely because the petitioner was paying property tax on the basis of annual value of Rs. 30.000.00 in the past could not by the criteria for fixing annual value for that building even in the future. As regards the outhouse, the contention is that the annual value was fixed at Rs. 270.00 on the basis of standard rent and there was no necessity of remanding the case back to the New Delhi Municipal Committee for re-assessment and the Additional District Magistrate, Delhi had wrongly remanded the case.

(3.) I find that the impugned order deals with three assessment orders whereas the petitioner has filed only one petition for three assessment years in this Court. It is well-settled that separate petitions have to be filed for separate assessment years. No one appears for the petitioner today, however in the interest of justice instead of rejecting the petition on this ground alone I think that it would be just and proper if this petition is treated to be for one assessment year i.e. 1970-71.