UNION COMMITTEE Vs. SAHAY SAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a suit by the karta and members of a joint Hindu family for a declaration that an assessment made on them on 9 June 1935, by the Union Committee of Dalsinghsarai under Section 118-C, Bihar and Orissa Local Self- Government Act, amounting to Rs. 255 was ultra vires the Union Committee and for recovery of the tax paid plus Rs. 10 by way of interest. The Courts below have agreed in decreeing the suit. This appeal is by the Union Committee of Dalsinghsarai challenging the decision of the Courts below.

(2.) The question that arises is whether an owner or occupier of buildings within the Union is taxable in respect of each of the buildings which he owns or occupies or whether only one tax is assessable on each individual. Section 118-C of the Act empowers the Union Committee to impose on the owners of buildings, tanks, wells or watercourses, or the occupiers of buildings, within the Union, or in any village therein, such assessment as may be required approximately to meet any deficiency in the financial resources of the Union. Clouse (d) of Sub-section 3 however limits the amount to be assessed on any person to Rs. 5 per mensem. The assessee in this case was a joint family and this family carried on business in five different buildings within the boundaries of the Union. Both before and after 1935, the assessment on the family had been limited to Rs. 5 per mensem.

(3.) In 1935, however, the Union assessed the family in respect of each of these buildings with the result that the family has had to pay more than Rs. 5 per mensem. It is not disputed, of course, that a joint Hindu family is a person within the meaning of Clause (d) of Sub-section 3. The learned advocate for the Union Committee in this Court has maintained the argument addressed to the Courts below that the Committee is entitled to levy tax in respect of each building owned or occupied by persons within the Union.