SURJIT RAM Vs. MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE, KURALI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question for determination in this appeal is whether the assessment of house-tax from 1st April, 1972 to 31st March, 1974 is illegal ?

(2.) It is manifest from the above that the question here is pristinely legal and the facts of the case before me would be of no great relevance. It would, therefore, suffice to mention that the plaintiff had filed a suit against the Municipal Committee, Kurali for permanent injunction restraining the latter from recovering house-tax from him for the period 1st April, 1972 to 31st March, 1974 alleging that the alleged assessment of the recovery of house-tax from him was illegal and ultra vires on the grounds, inter alia that previously the house in question was assessed for house-tax at the annual rental value of Rs. 300/- and now for the year 1973-74 it was assessed at the annual rental value of Rs. 1,400/- when there was no change or addition in his house. It was further averred in the plaint that the Municipal Committee was not entitled to increase the rental value for the purposes of house-tax more than that which was provided under section 4 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (for short, the Rent Act); that the assessing authority was bound to make an assessment of the annual rent in accordance with the provisions of the Rent Act keeping in view the criteria laid down therein for the determination of fair rent and that the provisions of Sections 62 to 68 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 had not been complied with by the Municipal Committee in making the assessment of the house-tax. These allegations were denied by the Municipal Committee. It was pleaded that all the legal formalities had been gone into and the whole procedure was followed in assessing the house-tax.

(3.) The learned counsel for the appellant has assailed the impugned orders on the ground that the Courts below had gone wrong in relying on the principle laid down in Lt.Col. Michael A.R. Skinner and others v. The Municipal Committee, Hansi,1959 71 PunLR 205 , wherein it was found that the annual rental value of the house for the purposes of house-tax is to be determined on the basis of the fair rent or standard rent if the house is in possession of a tenant but if the house is not in possession of a tenant then this criterion cannot be applied. The learned counsel has contended that the law laid down in the aforesaid authority is no longer good law in view of the authoritative pronouncements of their Lordships of the Supreme Court in Guntur Municipal Council v. Guntur Town Rate Payer s Association, etc., 1971 AIR(SC) 353 and Dewan Daulat Rai Kapoor, etc. v. New Delhi Municipal Committee, 1980 AIR(SC) 541 In Guntur Municipal Council case it was observed as under :-