J K CHARITABLE TRUST Vs. MUNICIPAL BOARD MUSSOORIE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Municipal Board, Mussoorie, opposite party no. 1, enhanced the annual value of the building occupied by the petitioner from 20 000/ to Rs. 30,000/-. THE property in question is quite specious and is known as Kamla Castle. It has got five stories, staff quarter consisting of ten rooms, guest house consisting of fourteen rooms, bath room, kitchen etc. situate at Mussoorie. THE said enhancement was objected to by the petitioner and the appellate authority by the impugned order dated 22-12-1979 has partly allowed the appeal and has fixed the annual value of the building at Rs. 25,000/-. This has been done in view of the spiral of prices, cost of construction and provisions of section 140 (b) of the U. P. Municipalities Act.

(2.) I have heard Sri V. B. Singh, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner. His submission is that for the building in question last assessment had taken place in the year 1974-75. It has been asserted in the writ petition that the list which was finalised for the year 1974-75 was of five years i.e. upto 1978-79. Therefore, in between that period, sending of a notice dated 31-1-1977 under Section 143 of the Municipalities Act, where-in the annual letting value was proposed at Rs. 47,000/- for the period between 1977-78 to 1979-80, for triennial assessment was not warranted by law. The submission is that under section 145 (1) of the Municipalities Act a new assessment list is contemplated to be prepared once in every five years. I, however, find from a perusal of the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the Municipal Board, Mussorie that factually the said Municipal Board makes triennial assessment and does not make assessment for five years. This is also confirmed by the notice dated 31-1-1977. Which even the petitioner admits was for triennial assessment. Reasons set out in the counter-affidavit for making the municipal assessment in every three years is that the value of the property within the Municipal Limits of Mussoorie has been rising every now land then very rapidly and it has become a part and fashion to own summer houses at Mussoorie. In the building in question there is a club and a guest house. In paragraph 15 of the counter-affidavit it has been specifically stated that the list prepared in 1974-75 was valid only for three years. It has been further asserted in paragraph 21 of the counter-affidavit that in a town like Mussoorie there is influk of tourists from throughout India and the Hotel owners and building owners are letting out buildings in large amounts. Alongwith the same there has been steep rise in the valuation of the houses. It is because of this situation that the Municipal Board, Mussoorie has been re-assessing the property after every three years. Thus the very basis of the submission made on behalf of the petitioner that the assessment made in the year 1974-75 was for five years has been found to be incorrect. Therefore, after the assessment in the year 1974-75 the impugned notice under section 143 of the U. P. Municipalities Act could have been served by the Municipal Board, Mussoorie. The said provision as occuring in the U. P. Municipalities Act reads as follows :-

(3.) THUS on the basis of the above interpretations, I find that in regard to the requirement in making an assessment in every five years because of the word 'ordinarily' occurring in sub-section (1) of Section 145 of the U. P. Municipalities Act a deviation could be made and the same, infact, has been made by the Municipal Board, Mussoorie, for the reasons set out above in the counter-affidavit. In my opinion, for the reasons given above, it was permissible for the Municipal Board, Mussoorie to have made assessment once in every three years. The said submission made on behalf of the petitioner, therefore, fails.