B SHEO NARAIN Vs. TOWN AREA PANCHAYAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a Letters Patent appeal by one B. Sheo Narain against & decree of a learned Single Judge of this Court confirming the decrees of the two lower Courts dismissing the suit which the appellant has brought against the. Town Area Panchayat of Chhibramau. The suit as brought by the appellant asked for a declaration that the assessment of town tax on the plaintiff is illegal and ultra vires being beyond the scope of the powers conferred on a panchayat by law, that the defendant be restrained by a perpetual injunction from realising the said tax of Rs. 36 from the plaintiff. Now the learned Single Judge of this Court and the Courts below have held that this is a suit which is not within the jurisdiction of the civil Courts. The suit was brought in the Court of a Munsif. Section 9, Civil P.C., provides as follows: The Court shall (subject to the provisions, herein contained) have jurisdiction to try all suits of a civil nature excepting suits of which their cognizance is either expressly or impliedly barred.

(2.) This shows that there are two points for consideration: firstly whether the suit is of a civil nature, and secondly whether there is any provision of the Code which would bar the exercise of jurisdiction by the civil Courts provided the suit were of a civil nature. We shall first deal with the question of whether the suit is of a civil nature. In our opinion, suits are of a civil nature if they are suits between subject and subject dealing with civil rights. The present suit is not between subject and subject but between a subject and a branch of Local Self-Government and it does not deal with civil rights, but it deals with the question of taxation. Learned Counsel has not shown any ruling in which it has been held that a civil Court can deal with this question of taxation by Government or by a local self-governing body with the exception of Kameshwar Prasad V/s. Chairman of the Bhabua Municipality (1900) 27 Cal 849. This ruling however did not deal with the general question under Section 9, Civil P.C., and merely dealt with the particular question as to whether there was a bar or not under the particular Bengal Municipal Act, 3 of 1884, as amended by Act 4 of 1894. We are therefore of opinion that learned Counsel has failed to show that the civil Courts have jurisdiction in a suit of the present nature. Now the second point which arises from Section 9, is that the section is expressly subject to the provisions herein contained. One of the provisions herein contained is Section 4, Civil P.C., Sub-section (1), which states: In the absence of any specific provision to the contrary, nothing in this Code shall be deemed to limit or otherwise affect any special or local law now in force or any special jurisdiction or power conferred, or any special form of procedure prescribed, by or under any other law for the time being in force.

(3.) That is, if there is any special jurisdiction or power conferred in any special or local law, then that subject is barred from the jurisdiction of the civil Courts. In the ruling already quoted the question before the Court was whether there was such a power in the Bengal Municipal Act. We are not concerned with that question. We are now concerned with the question whether there is or is not a power in the United Provinces Town Areas Act, U.P. Act 2 of 1914. That Act provides in Section 14 that the panchayat shall determine the amount required to be raised in any town area for the purposes of the Act, and the amount so determined shall be raised by the imposition of a tax to be assessed on the occupiers of houses or lands within the limits of the town area according either to the circumstances or to the annual value of the houses and lands occupied by them as the panchayat may determine. Section 15, provides that the panchayat shall prepare a list of the persons liable to pay the tax imposed under Section 14, and of the amounts to be paid respectively by such person, that such assessment shall be subject to confirmation by the District Magistrate and in Sub-section (4): An assessment when confirmed by the District Magistrate shall not be subject to alteration except upon revision of the assessment list under Sub-section (2) or in pursuance of an order passed in appeal under the provisions of Section 18.