SRI VYRICHERLA CHANDRAMANI PATTAMAHADEVI ZAMINDARINI OF CHEMUDU ESTATE Vs. THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL REPRESENTED BY ITS COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE question which arises in this second appeal is whether land covered by a casuarina plantation is agricultural land for purposes of assessment to property tax under Section 81, Clauses (3) and (4) of the Madras District Municipalities Act.

(2.) THE facts so far as they are necessary are that the appellant is the owner of a field measuring 11 acres within the Vizagapatam municipal limits. During the relevant period six acres were used as pasture and were assessed accordingly under Section 81(4)(a) of the Act; the remaining five acres were covered by casuarina trees and, rejecting the appellant's claim to their assessment as agricultural land, were assessed under Section 81(3). An appeal was carried without success to the municipal council, and eventually a suit was filed in the District Munsiff's Court. The plaintiff was unsuccessful in the suit and also in the lower appellate Court. As already stated, the only point taken is that for purposes of Section 81 of the District Municipalities Act the word ' agriculture ' must be construed in its widest sense so as to include not only the cultivation of food crops but also the cultivation of garden crops, trees, bushes and flowers.

(3.) 'Agriculture' with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall include horticulture" and Ananthakrishna Aiyar, J., applying the legal maxim expressio unius est exclusio alterius, thought that this was of peculiar significance. Both the learned Judges examined various provisions of the Act in discussing the precise meaning of the word " agriculture " in relation to the Madras Estates Land Act before holding that it did not include the cultivation of a casuarina tope.