SPECIAL COMMISSIONER AND COMMISSIONER OF URBAN LAND CEILING AND URBAN LAND TAX, CHENNAI Vs. CHENNAI PORT TRUST

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ appeal is directed against the order dated 11.06.2019 in W.P. No.34764 of 2007. The said writ petition was filed by the Chennai Port Trust, the Respondent herein, for a Writ of Mandamus to forbear the Appellants herein from demanding payment of urban land tax in respect of the lands comprised in Survey Nos.4035/1, 4035/3, 4036/3 and 3870/1 of Tondiarpet Village measuring an extent of 52248, 23528, 2831 and 6579 sq. metres, respectively (the Lands) and to direct the Appellants herein to refund a sum of Rs.11,29,116/- paid by the Respondent herein under protest for the period extending from 01.07.2003 to 30.06.2006. The said writ petition was allowed by order dated 11.06.2019. The facts and circumstances that resulted in this litigation are set out in the following paragraphs.

(2.) The Madras Dock Labour Board was a body corporate constituted under Section 5-A of the Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948 (the Dock Workers Act 1948). The Madras Dock Labour Board administered four statutory schemes framed by the Central Government under Section 4 of the Dock Workers Act. Each scheme pertained to different kinds of cargo handling operations at the Chennai Port. At the requisition of the stevedoring employers, who were licensed by the Chennai Port Trust to carry on their stevedoring operations at the Chennai Port, the Madras Dock Labour Board supplied labour from the separate cadres of labour administered under four statutory schemes. The Respondent herein is a major port constituted under the provisions of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 (The Major Port Trusts Act). The Assistant Commissioner (Urban Land Tax) issued Assessment Orders dated 28.02.1994 to the Madras Dock Labour Board in respect of various parcels of land, including the Lands. In response, by communication dated 28.02.1994, the Madras Dock Labour Board informed the Assistant Commissioner that except for the Lands, the other lands do not belong to the Madras Dock Labour Board and that urban land tax is being remitted for the Lands (Survey Nos. 4035/3, 4035/1, 4036/3 and 3870/1) periodically. The return was filed thereafter by the Madras Dock Labour Board on 03.03.1994.

(3.) Both the Madras Dock Labour Board and the Chennai Port Trust functioned under the control of the Ministry of Surface Transport and Shipping. In 1997, Parliament enacted the Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) (Inapplicability to Major Ports) Act, 1997 (the Dock Workers Act 1997), which came into force on 05.01.1998. In terms thereof, the dock labour boards that functioned in various ports were merged with the respective port trust. As per Section 3 of the Dock Workers Act 1997, the management of the Madras Dock Labour Board, the workers thereof and the management of the Chennai Port Trust entered into a settlement under Section 12(3) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Based on such settlement, the Central Government issued a Gazette notification dated 29.05.2001 making the Dock Workers Act 1948 inapplicable to the Chennai Port Trust. As per Section 4 of the Dock Workers Act 1997, all the assets and funds that were vested in the Madras Dock Labour Board immediately before 28.05.2001 would vest in the Board of Trustees of the Chennai Port Trust from the appointed date and the Madras Dock Labour Board would be dissolved. Thus, the Madras Dock Labour Board ceased to exist.