MUHAMMED SAYED Vs. MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, ATTINGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The owner of certain buildings, situated within the limits of the Attingal Municipality, seeks to quash the proceedings of the Municipality enhancing the property tax from 4 1/2 to 7 1/2 per cent and also the demand notices issued to him by the Municipality by a writ of certiorari or other appropriate writ. He also prays for the issue of a writ of mandamus to restrain the Municipality from levying or collecting the enhanced tax. There are various allegations in the affidavit in support of the petition. They are mainly: that the provisions of S.78 and 79 of the Travancore District Municipalities Act, which are mandatory, have not been complied with; that there was no preliminary notification as required by S.78 of the Act and thus opportunity to raise objections had been denied to the petitioner; that the publication in the newspaper and the gazette has been done not by the Municipal Council as required by S.78, but only by the Commissioner, which is illegal; and that the exemption of buildings whose annual rental value is less than Rs. 36/- is discriminatory, as such classification is not based on any intelligible differentia.

(2.) The Municipal Council and the Commissioner thereof are the 1st and the 2nd respondents respectively and the 2nd respondent has filed a rejoinder traversing the several allegations made in the affidavit of the petitioner. We do not think it is necessary to recapitulate the several averments in the said counter affidavit. We would hereinafter only narrate a few facts necessary for the appreciation of the main questions involved in the writ petition.

(3.) The Municipal Council passed a resolution on 8th November 1957 proposing to raise the property tax from 41/2- to 71/2 per cent. The said resolution proposed also to exempt completely from the taxation buildings whose rental value did not exceed Rs. 36/- per annum. The resolution was published in a Malayalam Daily, namely 'Kerala Kaumudi' dated 11th December, 1957 and was also published in the Gazette dated 17th December of the same year. Ultimately, on 24th January 1958 the Municipal Council finalised the proposals and demand notices were thereafter issued to the petitioner and others.