TARAPADA MAJUMDAR Vs. SATISH CHANDRA SHAHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals are preferred by the Chairman of the Municipal Commissioners of Kushtia and arise out of two suits filed by the plaintiff. Satish Chandra Shaha, against the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and certain other officers of the Municipality claiming a declaration that certain taxes levied upon him were illegally levied, and demanding a refund thereof with damages for illegal distress. The Subordinate Judge has given the plaintiff a decree in each case for refund of the taxes and Rs. 100 as damages. The plaintiff has preferred cross-objections in each case claiming Rs. 1,900 and Rs. 600 respectively more as damages.

(2.) The plaintiff and his brothers Suresh Chandra Shaha and Jogesh Chandra Shaha, pro forma defendants Nos. 6 and 7, are admittedly owners of the premises now in question which are situate in village Majampur in the district of Nadia. The property lay on the outskirts of the Kushtia Municipality. The land surrounding the plaintiff s house, which he and his brothers hold under one title, comprises an area of 21 bighas and is surrounded by one set of boundaries. In 1909-10 a dispute arose between the plaintiff and the Municipality with regard to the taxation of the plaintiff s premises. On 23rd March 1910 the plaintiff, instituted suit No. 178 of 1910 claiming that the whole of his premises lay outside the municipal limits, but that, in case any portion should be found to lie within those limits, that portion should be properly demarcated. He also claimed a refund of the taxes then levied. On the 30th April 1912 the Court decided in his favour and gave him a decree fixing the municipal limit along the line ABC running roughly from south to north as shown in the Commissioner s map in that case, which map is also on the present record. It further gave him a decree for refund of the taxes then levied. The effect of this demarcation was to leave the plaintiff s house and 10 bighas of his land within the limits of the Municipality, the remaining 11 bighas of land with a large tank falling outside the limits of the Municipality to the west.

(3.) In 1911 a suggestion was made for the extension of the municipal limits. The matter passed through the usual channels and eventually on 19th June 1912 the Local Government sanctioned such an extension of the limits as to include the 11 bighas of the plaintiff s land now in question within the Municipality. The declaration for that extension is dated 26th June 1912. The Local Government did not at that time issue any notification sanctioning the imposition of taxes in respect of the added area. This notification was eventually issued on 14th August 1913.