Municipal Corporation v. Secy. , Usha Trust, Indore
1977-07-05
S.R.VYAS
body1977
DigiLaw.ai
Short Note : Briefly stated the facts are these: House No.7 on the Manik Bagh Road known as Manik Bagh Palace Annexe is owned by the Princess, Usha Trust, a Trust created by the Late Indore Ruler Maharaja Yeshwantrao Holkar. The Municipal Corporation initiated proceedings under section 138 of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1969 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') for the levy of property tax and issued notices to the Secretary of the Trust under section 146 of the Act requiring information and other necessary details to enable the Corporation to determine the amount of property tax leviable on this house. In reply, submitted by the Secretary of the Usha Trust, it was urged that the property belonged to the Ruler of the former Holkar State and was exempt from any municipal taxes proposed to be levied on it by the Corporation. In the proceedings before the Corporation authorities, though it has conceded that the property actually used by the former Ruler for his residence was not liable to the levy of any of the municipal taxes but since the disputed house was let out on rent the exemption claimed by the Trust was not available. The Corporation authorities did not agree, accordingly an appeal was filed by the Trustees of the Trust before the Additional District Judge who was of the view that in accordance with the provisions of the covenant entered into between the former Ruler of the Holkar State and the Government of India, municipal taxes could not be imposed on the disputed property. The appeal was accordingly allowed and the order passed by the municipal authorities for levying property tax was set aside. It is against this order that the present revision application has been filed by the Corporation. 3. Held: The learned lower appellate Judge has merely referred to the covenant, according to which, in the opinion of the learned Additional District Judge the property in dispute could claim exemption from the levy of municipal taxes. No reference has, however, been made to any particular Article of the Covenant under which the exemption was held as permissible. The provisions of Article 362 of the Constitution as they were in force on the date the proceedings of levy of taxes were initiated also do not appear to have been considered.
No reference has, however, been made to any particular Article of the Covenant under which the exemption was held as permissible. The provisions of Article 362 of the Constitution as they were in force on the date the proceedings of levy of taxes were initiated also do not appear to have been considered. Since neither the assessing authority of the Corporation nor the learned Additional District Judge has considered the relevant provisions of law, learned counsel for both the parties made a joint request that this matter be remanded back to the learned lower appellate Court so that all the relevant provisions of the Covenant, the Constitution of India and any other law which may be relevant and applicable to this case may be considered in detail and' a suitable order may be passed. The prayer made appears to be reasonable. 4. Accordingly, the impugned appellate order passed by the Additional District Judge is hereby set aside and the case is remanded back to that Court for re-consideration on merits in the light of the observations made above. Before the learned lower appellate Court both the parties shall be free to raise such questions of law and fact as may properly arise in this case. Costs of this revision application shall be the costs in the' cause and will abide the result of the appeal. Counsel's fee Rs. 50 (Rupees fifty), if certified. Revision allowed.