RALLA RAM Vs. PROVINCE OF EAST PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question to be determined in this appeal is whether the provisions of the Punjab Urban Immovable Property Tax Act (Punj. Act No. XVII of 1940), which will hereinafter be referred to as the Punjab Act, are beyond the powers of the Provincial Legislature which enacted it. The question arose under the following circumstances.

(2.) The appellant is the owner of a shop in the town of Amritsar. Under the Act, to which reference has been made, he was called upon to pay, a sum of Rs. 67-8-0 as property tax for the year 1943-44 in respect of the shop. At first, he denied his liability to pay the amount, but, subsequently, he paid it under protest, and thereafter instituted a suit in the Court of the Judge of Small Causes at Amritsar, claiming its refund on the ground that the Act which levied the property tax was ultra vires the Punjab Legislature. This suit was dismissed, and thereupon, he made an application for revision to the Lahore High Court, but the application also was dismissed. While dismissing the application, however, the High Court granted a certificate under Section 205(1) of the Government of India Act, 1935, and he has accordingly preferred an appeal in this Court.

(3.) At the hearing of the appeal, the Government of East Punjab (the present respondent in the appeal) was represented by the Advocate-General of East Punjab, and the Advocate- General of Bombay was also heard, on the ground that the Government of Bombay was interested in the constitutional point involved in the appeal.