D R AGGARWAL Vs. NEW DELHI MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Letters Patent Appeal is directed against the decision of learned Single Judge whereby the writ petition of the appellants has been dismissed in limine on the ground that equally efficacious remedy of appeal is available to them. It has been held by learned Single Judge that the writ petition is not tenable in view of the observations of the Supreme Court in the case of Shyam Kishore and others vs. M.C.D. and others, 1993 (1) SCC 22. Briefly the case of the appellants is as under :

(2.) The appellants are the sons of late Mr. Basheshar Nath who had let out the ground floor of property No.61, Jor Bagh, New Delhi to Indian Oil Corporation Limited in the year 1969 at the monthly rent of Rs. 750.00 . He had also let out the first and second floors in the year 1969 at a monthly rental of Rs. 675.00 to M/s Chowgule & Company Limited. The property tax for the years 1969-70 to 1988-89 had been assessed on the actual rental yield. The challenge in the writ petition was to the notices of assessments made in respect of rateable value for the years 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1993-94. The resolutions passed by New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC) pertaining to these years have been placed on record. For the year 1989-90, as per the Resolution No. 190 dated 15th March, 1993, the proposed annual value was taken by the NDMC at Rs. 2.04,540.00 less 10 per cent. It is stated to be on rental basis. Similar is the position for the year 1990-91 (Resolution No. 191 dated 15th March, 1993). In respect of the year 1993-94 (Resolution No. 556 dated 22nd February, 1993) the proposed rateable value is Rs. 1,12,462.00 less 10 per cent on comparable basis. Learned counsel for the appellants has also submitted that for the two intervening years i.e., 1991-92 and 1992-93 the house tax was levied on aforesaid actual rent amounts. The appellants have also placed on record the assessments made for the subsequent years i.e., 1995-96 and 1996-97 in support of the contention that the house tax has been levied on actual rent being paid, as aforestated, by Indian Oil Corporation and M/s Chowgule and Company. However, it was pointed out by learned counsel for the appellants that the rent for these two years was wrongly stated in the assessment orders as Rs. 1,050.00 per month from Indian Oil Corporation Limited in place of Rs. 750.00 per month. In this appeal we are not concerned with these merits. We have, however, noticed these facts in order to highlight the grievance of the appellants which was the subject matter of the writ petition which was dismissed in limine by the impugned judgment.

(3.) Learned counsel for NDMC contends that in view of the statutory remedy of appeal available to the appellants the writ petition was not maintainable and was rightly dismissed. On the other hand, learned counsel for the appellants contends that the remedy of appeal was onerous as it required the appellants as a pre-condition of hearing of appeal to deposit the house tax. Further contention urged on behalf of the appellants is that the statutory provisions cannot take away the constitutional remedies available under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to the citizens.