P D PAUL Vs. TAHSILDAR CHITTOOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question for decision in this writ appeal is whether the appellant who holds a plantation on lease from Government, is liable to pay plantation tax in respect of it under the Kerala Plantations (Additional Tax) Act, 1960, Act 17 of 1960, hereinafter referred to as the Act. The principal contention of the appellant was that the plantation in question being "land belonging to Government" and therefore exempt from basic tax under the Kerala Land Tax Act, 1961, Act 13 of 1961, and plantation tax being additional to basic tax the appellant is not liable.

(2.) Plantation is defined in S.2(6) of the Act as follows:

(3.) Though both plantation tax and basic tax are "taxes on lands" within the domain of legislative entry 49 in List II of the Constitution, there is no doubt in our minds, that the two are different imposts. The base of the plantation tax is possession of the land while that of the basic tax is ownership of the land. The plantation tax is payable by the holder of the land as defined in the Act, being the person in possession and the basic tax is payable by the landholder as defined in the other Act, who need not necessarily be a person in possession. As held in Babu v. State of Kerala 1965 KLT 944 the plantation tax is not based on the extent of the land but on "a specified type of user for specified types of crop".