ACHUTHANANDAN Vs. COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is stated to be the owner of four buildings, Nos. 234, 235, 236 and 237, all situated in Ward IX of Kodungallur Municipality. THE 1st respondent is the commissioner, Municipal Council, Kodungallur; the 2nd respondent is the municipal Council, Kodungallur; and the 3rd respondent is the State of Kerala , represented by its Secretary, Local administration & Social Welfare (B) Department, Trivandrum .

(2.) PRIOR to 1st August 1977, on which date Kodungallur municipality came into being, the petitioner's buildings referred to above were assessed to property tax by the erstwhile Lokamaleswaram Panchayat which was the Panchayat in which the buildings were comprised before the Panchayat became part of the Kodungallur Municipality. The 1st respondent Commissioner completed the assessment of the petitioner's buildings under S. 100 of the Kerala municipalities Act, 1960 (the Act), and intimation was given to the petitioner with respect to that. It is not necessary to state the annual value of the income and the half yearly tax fixed for each of the building. It would be suffice to say that the petitioner's case is that the assessment made in Exts. P-6 to P-9, confirmed in appeal in Exts. P-14 to P-18, had no relevance to the previous assessment made by the Panchayat or to the standard rent that could be fixed for the buildings in question.

(3.) THE position being beyond any doubt, the writ petition is allowed quashing Exts. P6 to P9 and P14 to P18 without prejudice to the right of respondents 1 and 2 to proceed to fix the tax on the basis of the standard rent that might be arrived at in accordance with the provisions contained in S. 5 of the Kerala Buildings (Lease & Rent Control) Act, 1965. Tax, if any paid in excess of the tax that might be fixed after arriving at the standard rent would be refunded to the petitioner. THE writ petition is disposed of in the above terms. THEre will be no order as to costs. . .