PUNJAB STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD Vs. MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present civil writ petition has been filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing orders/notices issued by the respondents dated 19.12.1988 wherein, the petitioner was required to file objections against the proposed assessment on the annual rental value of property No. 1395-A/1 situated in the municipal limits of Kharar and the subsequent assessment done on 19.01.1989 by the Executive Officer and the demand for the subsequent year 1990-91 alongwith arrears.

(2.) The pleaded case of the petitioner-Board is that its office sub yard is situated in village Khanpur adjoining Kharar town and was constructed in the year 1977 and since then no notice regarding construction or otherwise for payment of house tax was raised. The amenities provided in the residential colony which was situated outside the limits of Kharar were not done by the respondents in any manner. The petitioners had made separate provisions of sewerage, water supply, streets, street lights and roads etc. and the respondents had not spent any penny for providing amenities or maintenance of any amenities as contained in the complex. The term of the Municipal Committee, Kharar had expired long back in the year 1985 and the SDO (Civil), Kharar was acting as the Administrator of the Municipal Committee, Kharar. The Municipal Committee had imposed house tax on the property within its limits and assessment lists were prepared long back and the petitioners were not asked to pay any house tax. A notice dated 19.12.1988 was received from the office of the respondents that the complex of the petitionerBoard fell within Ward No. 5 of the Municipal Committee and the same was numbered as 1395-A and the name of the petitioner could not be added in the assessment list which is required to be entered and the petitioner was asked to submit objections and the rental value of the property was assessed at Rs. 2,00,000/- and tax was assessed to the tune of Rs. 30,000/-. The Executive Engineer of the petitioner, in reply to the notice, wrote a letter on 03.01.1989 taking the plea that the buildings, store and the office were outside the municipal limits and that the buildings were being looked after by the employees of the department. The basic amenities like water supply, street lights, roads and sewerage were provided by the department itself and it's employees, whose pay was being charged from the funds of the department. Accordingly, notice was sought to be withdrawn and that the file be consigned. Thereafter, the respondent-Committee asked the petitioner to appear in the office for filing of objections and Shri Bal Krishan, Junior Engineer-I appeared on behalf of the petitioner and raised all objections but the respondent, in an arbitrary manner and by passing a non-speaking order, ordered that the area fell within the municipal limits of Kharar and tax can be imposed and note was made by the said Junior Engineer that he was not agreeing with the assessment. Thereafter, notice under Section 78(2) of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (for short 'The Act') was received by the petitioner where the petitioner was asked to deposit Rs. 60,000/- towards house tax upto the year 1990 and reply was sent but the petitioners were not under any obligation to pay since the buildings and colony were of the Board and all the basic amenities like water supply, street lights, roads and sewerage were provided by the department itself and it was prayed that the notices in question be recalled. It was further pleaded that the order dated 19.01.1989 was never served to the petitioner and the objections were never decided. The application for realization of the amount was moved before the Special Executive Magistrate, Ludhiana, who sent the notice for depositing Rs. 60,000/- towards the house tax for the year 1989-90, failing which, the amount would be recovered by attachment. Accordingly, the said orders were challenged on the ground that non-speaking order had been passed and the same deserved to be set aside since the complex of the petitioner did not fall within the municipal limits of the Committee and it had not spent a single penny for providing any basic amenity. The buildings were also constructed without taking any permission from the Municipal Committee in the year 1977 and the Committee was stopped from raising demand. Under Section 4 of the Punjab Municipal (Executive Officer) Act, 1931, (for short 'the Executive Officer Act') the Executive Officer alone had no power to revise the valuation and assessment under Section 65(1) of the Act and the said power could only be exercised by the sub-committee consisting of the Executive Officer and two members of the committee. Therefore, the demand was totally illegal and arbitrary. The valuation of the complex had been wrongly assessed against the provisions of Section 4 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (for short 'the Rent Act').

(3.) In the written statement filed by the Municipal Committee, plea of alternative remedy was taken that an appeal could be filed under Section 85 of the Act with the Deputy Commissioner and the remedy under Section 236 of the Act also provided power with the State Government. It was further pleaded that the petitioner was under an obligation to deposit the tax before filing the appeal and by filing the writ petition, by pass was being taken to the provisions of the Act.