KAN RAJ Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This special appeal under Section 18 of the Rajasthan High Court Ordinance is directed against the judgment of the learned Single Judge, dated October, 12 1976, whereby he dismissed the writ petition challenging the conversion of the Gram Panchayat, Ahore, into Municipality, Ahore.

(2.) The appellant filed a writ petition wherein he challenged the validity of notification (Ex. 1) dated April 16, 1975, issued under Section 6 of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 1959 (hereinafter to be referred to as the Act of 1959) and the notification (Ex. 6) issued under Section 6 (1) of the Act of 1959 on January 28, 1976 (Ex. 6). He also prayed for quashing of the proceedings coming from the notification dated April 16, 1975 and culminating in the notification dated January 28, 1976. It was further prayed in the writ petition that the Municipal Board, Ahore, be directed to forebear from functioning as a Municipal Board under the provisions of the Act and that the Land and Building Tax Department, Rajas-than, Jaipur, be restrained from enforcing any of the provisions of the Lands and Buildings Tax Act, 1964 and the Rules made thereunder on the inhabitants of the Panchayat Circle Ahore, in general and the appellant in particular,

(3.) The material facts, which are relevant for the purposes of disposal of this appeal, stated in brief, are as under:- On April 16, 1965, notification Number F.1(3)/LSG/74/24164-77, was issued under Section 6 (1) of the Act of 1959, By this notification, objections to the said proposal were invited from the affected persons who were required to submit their objections within 2 months from the date of the proclamation which was to be made by beat of drum in the area concerned. In the said notification, it was, inter alia, mentioned that as the population of the Gram Panchayat, Ahore, had gone up to 7,723 as per the census of 1971 and as the Gram Panchayat, Ahore, is an important business market and as all the facilities for the development of the town are available, it was for that reason that the State Government proposed to convert the Gram Panchayat, Ahore, into municipality. That notification is Ex. 1. The appellant, who is a permanent resident of village Ahore, and which is included in the Panchayat Circle of Gram Panchayat, Ahore along with other interested persons submitted their objections against the said proposal of the State Government. According to the appellant, although no enquiry worth the name was made into the objections, nor were the inhabitants of the Gram Panchayat, Ahore, were heard regarding the said objections, yet a final notification Number F.1(3) LSG/74/6343 dated January 28, 1976 purporting to be under Section 4 of the Act of 1959, was published in the Rajasthan Gazette wherein it was mentioned that all the objections received within the prescribed time were duly considered and were found without any substance and consequently, the State Government has directed that Gram Panchayat, Ahore, be converted into a municipality, which shall be called "Nagarpalika, Ahore,". The said notification is Ex. 6. The appellant's further prayer in, the writ petition was that under the provisions of the Rajasthan Land and Building Tax Act, as amended by Act No. 15 of 1973, the taxes on the land and buildings in all the areas covered by cantonement boards, municipal boards, including that of Ahore, or councils in the State of Rajasthan, be imposed and levied. Consequently, the Land and Building Tax was introduced in the area covered by the newly constituted Municipal Board of Ahore. It is in this background that the appellant felt aggrieved by the impugned notification of April 16, 1975 and January 26, 1976, and challenged the same under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.