R.V. ABDUL JALEEL Vs. ASSISTANT LABOUR OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Challenge has been laid to Exts.P3 and P4 notices dtd. 9/3/2020 and P7 order dtd. 27/12/2018 demanding the petitioner to pay the cess regarding the construction of the building.

(2.) Petitioner is the owner of residential building No. 15/138 in Survey No. 125/6, 1 of the Guruvayur Village, Chavakkad Taluk, Thrissur District having an extent of 233.95 square meters of plinth area. An application was submitted for building permit for construction of the house which was granted on 2/2/2006 Ext.P1. The house was constructed in the year 2008 and Occupancy Certificate dtd. 12/11/2008 Ext.P2 was issued by the Guruvayur Municipality.

(3.) Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that as per the provisions of Rule 4 of the Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Rules, 1998 (hereinafter referred to as 'Rules', for short), cess is levied under Sec. 3(1) of the Act to be paid within thirty (30) days of the date on which the construction project was completed. The construction was completed way back in 2008 but the demand for the first time was raised in the year 2018 and followed in the year 2020 which ex facie is barred by law of limitation in view of the Full Bench judgment of this Court in Raveendran Nair v. State of Kerala reported in (2014 (4) KLT 625) and another judgment of this Court dtd. 30/3/2022 rendered in Writ Petition (C) No. 1914 of 2022 Sundaran Bhaskaran v. The Building Assessment Officer and others. It is on that ground alternative remedy has not been availed of. Article 113 and 137 of the Limitation Act provide that when there is no limitation, the dues can be recovered only within the period of three years.