JUDGMENT H.N. DEVANI, J. 1. SINCE common issues are involved in the present petitions, the same were taken up for hearing together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. 2. IN Special Civil Application No.2060 of 2009, the petitioner has mainly challenged letter dated 07th February, 2009 issued by the respondent no.3 Jesar Gram Panchayat calling upon the petitioner to pay annual tax of Rs.60,000/- in respect of its mobile telecommunication tower. In Special Civil Application No.2239 of 2009, the petitioner has challenged notice dated 08th February, 2009 issued by the respondent No.3 Jesar Gram Panchayat calling upon the petitioner to pay annual rent of Rs.12,000/- as well as installation charges of Rs. 50,000/- per year for two years in respect of its mobile telecommunication tower. . 3. IN Special Civil Application No.2240 of 2009, the petitioner has challenged notice dated 08th February, 2009 issued by the respondent no.3 Jesar Gram Panchayat calling upon the petitioner to pay annual rent of Rs.12,000/- as well as installation charges of Rs.50,000/- per year for three years in respect of its mobile telecommunication tower. 4. IN Special Civil Application No.9198 of 2009, the petitioner has challenged Demand Notices dated 30.09.2008 and 8.04.2009 issued by the Satapar Gram Panchayat calling upon the petitioner to pay annual rent of Rs.50,000/- in respect of its mobile telecommunication tower. In all the aforesaid notices, the tax/rent is calculated on the basis of the height of the respective tower at the rate of Rs.1000/- per metre. 5. HEARD the learned advocates for the parties. 6. ALL the above referred letters/demand notices have been challenged on the ground that the annual rent is sought to be levied and recovered in respect of Mobile telecommunication towers without support of any statutory power under the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993 (the Act). Attention is invited to the decision of this Court in the case of Reliance Communications Limited v. Junagadh Municipal Corporation, rendered on 09.09.2008 in Special Civil Application No.531 of 2008 wherein the Court had set aside the resolution passed by the said Municipal Corporation insofar as the same provided for determination of permission fees, annual rent and administrative penalty as being without authority of law since the same was not backed by any statutory authority. It is submitted that the said decision would be applicable on all fours to the present petitions inasmuch as there is no provision under the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993 which empowers the concerned Gram Panchayat to levy annual rent in relation to mobile telecommunication towers set up on private properties. It is further submitted that though the said Panchayats have not directly placed reliance on the Government Resolution dated 11.12.2008 issued by the State of Gujarat, the annual rent has been calculated in terms of the said resolution. It is pointed out that the said Government Resolution is subject matter of challenge in Special Civil Application No.1898 of 2009 and cognate matters, to submit that the petitioners also adopt the contentions advanced by the learned advocates in those petitions. A perusal of the impugned letter/notices indicates that that there is no reference to any statutory provision in the said letter/notices to indicate as to in exercise of which power, the tax is sought to be recovered. Nonetheless, merely because the said letter/notices do not refer to any statutory provision would not render the same invalid if the same can be traced to some statutory provision which empowers the concerned Panchayat to levy such tax. In all these petitions, the impugned letter/notices have been issued by the concerned Gram Panchayats hence, the relevant statute would be the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993. What is now required to be examined is as to whether there is any provision under the said Act which empowers the concerned Gram Panchayat to recover such annual rent towards telecommunication towers set up on private lands. 7. CHAPTER IX of the Panchayats Act makes provision for "Taxation". CHAPTER IX is sub-divided into five parts, viz. Part-I: Taxation by the State Government, Part-II: Taxation by Village Panchayat, Part-III: Taxation by Taluka Panchayat, Part-IV: Taxation by District Panchayat and Part-V: Procedure of Levying Tax or Fee by Taluka Panchayat and District Panchayat. In the present case the tax is sought to be recovered by Gram Panchayats, hence the relevant provisions would be the provisions of Part-II of CHAPTER IX, which consists of sections 200 to 205. In the present case the tax is sought to be recovered by Gram Panchayats, hence the relevant provisions would be the provisions of Part-II of CHAPTER IX, which consists of sections 200 to 205. Section 200 provides for "Levy of taxes and fees by village panchayats"; section 201 provides for "Lump-sum contribution by factories in lieu of taxes levied by panchayat"; section 202 provides for "Framing of fees on markets etc."; section 203 provides for "Levy and Collection upto twenty five paise as cess on every rupee of land revenue"; section 204 provides for "Power of taluka panchayat to increase taxation of panchayat"; and section 205 provides for "Recovery of cost of watch and ward". On a perusal of the provisions of Part II it is apparent that, in the facts of the present cases, the relevant provision would be Section 200 of the Act which reads thus:- "200. Levy of taxes and fees by village panchayats. On a perusal of the provisions of Part II it is apparent that, in the facts of the present cases, the relevant provision would be Section 200 of the Act which reads thus:- "200. Levy of taxes and fees by village panchayats. - (1) Subject to any general or special order (including an order fixing the minimum and maximum rates of a tax or fee) which the State Government may make in this behalf, it shall be competent to a village panchayat to levy all or any of the following taxes and fee at such rates as may be decided by it and in such manner and subject to such exemptions as may be prescribed, namely :- 1.a tax on buildings (whether subject to payment of agricultural assessment or not) and lands (which are not subject to payment of agricultural assessment) within the limits of the village; 2.octroi on animals or goods or both brought within the village for consumption, use or sale therein; 3.a pilgrim tax; 4.a tax on fairs, festivals and other entertainments not being a tax on payments for admission to any entertainments; 5.a tax on vehicles, boats or animals used for riding, draught or burden, kept for use within the village, whether they are actually kept within or outside the village; 6.a toll on vehicles and animals used as aforesaid entering the village but not liable to taxation under clause (v) of this sub-section; 7.a tax on dogs kept within the village; 8.a general sanitary cess for the construction or maintenance, of public latrines and for the removal and disposal of refuse; 9.a general water rate which may be imposed in the form of a rate assessed on buildings and lands or in any other form as may be best adapted to the circumstances of any class of cases; 10.any other prescribed tax (not being a toll on motor vehicles or trailers, save as provided by section 20 of the Bombay Motor Vehicles tax Act, 1958 (Bombay LVX of 1958) or tax on professions, trades, callings and employments or a tax on payments for admission to any entertainment) which the State Legislature has under the Constitution, powers to impose in the State; 11.a fee on markets and weekly bazars; 12.a fee on cart-stands and tonga-stands; 13.a special water rate for water supplied by the panchayat through pipes, which may be imposed in any form including that of charges for such water supplied fixed in such mode or modes as shall be best adapted in the circumstances of any class of cases; 14.a fee for the supply of water from wells and tanks vesting in it, for purposes other than domestic use and for cattle; 15.fee for temporary erection, on or putting up projections over, or temporary occupation of, any public street or place; 16.a special sanitary cess upon private latrines, premises or compounds cleaned by the panchayat agency; 17.a drainage tax; 18.a lighting tax; 19.a fee for cleansing a cess pool constructed on land whether belonging to a panchayat or not' 20.a fee for grazing cattle on grazing lands vesting in a panchayat; 21.in lieu of any two or more separate taxes specified in clauses (I), (viii), (ix) and (xviii), a consolidated tax on buildings or lands or both situated within the limits of the village. 2.The duties and obligation of persons liable to any tax or fee under sub-section (1) shall be such as may be prescribed. 3.Rules made under sub-section(1) may, interalia provide, - 1.for the assignment and payment of a part of the proceeds of pilgrim tax levied by village panchayat to a district panchayat or taluka panchayat to such extent and in such circumstances and on such conditions as may be prescribed; 2.for lump sum payment of tax on vehicles or animals by persons liable to pay such tax. 4.The tax on buildings or lands referred to in clauses (i) and (xxi) of sub-section (1) shall be leviable from the owners or occupiers thereof: Provided that when an owner of a building or land has left the village or cannot otherwise be found, any person to whom such building or land has been transferred shall be liable for the tax leviable from the owner. 5.The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that the tax upon buildings or lands referred to in clause (i) of sub-section (1) shall not be levied, or shall be levied on such reduced scale, on all buildings and lands or on any class of buildings or lands situated in an area predominantly populated by members of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. 6.Any person aggrieved by the assessment, levy or imposition of any tax or fee may appeal to the district panchayat within the prescribed period. 7.No such appeal shall be entertained unless the amount claimed from the appellant has been deposited by the appellant with the panchayat. 8.The State Government may suspend the levy or imposition of any tax or fee and may at any time rescind such suspension." 8. UNDER the scheme of the Panchayats Act insofar as village panchayats are concerned the only provision which empowers the panchayat to levy taxes is section 200. A perusal of the provisions of Section 200 shows that the same lays down 21 categories in respect of which it is permissible for the panchayat to levy taxes. On a plain reading of the 21 categories enumerated under section 200, it is apparent that there is no provision which permits the village panchayat to collect annual rent in relation to telecommunication towers set up on private properties. On a plain reading of the 21 categories enumerated under section 200, it is apparent that there is no provision which permits the village panchayat to collect annual rent in relation to telecommunication towers set up on private properties. Thus, the power to levy and collect annual rent in respect of mobile telecommunication towers does not flow from any of the provisions of the Act. As rightly submitted by the learned advocates for the petitioners, the controversy involved in the present petitions stands concluded by the decision of this Court in the case of Reliance Communications Limited v. Junagadh Municipal Corporation (supra), though the same has been rendered in the context of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 and the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963. Moreover, on a perusal of the impugned letter/notices it is apparent that the levy of annual rent on mobile telecommunication towers on the basis of the height of each individual tower at the rate of Rs.1000/- per metre, though not directly based upon the Government Resolution dated 11th December, 2008 appears to be in the context of the said resolution. The resolution dated 11th December, 2008 issued by the Government of Gujarat, Urban Development and Urban Housing Department provided for levy and recovery of Annual Permission Fees and Installation Charges on mobile telecommunication towers in the areas covered under Municipal Corporations/Municipalities in the State of Gujarat. It is common ground between the parties that Government Resolution dated 11th December, 2008 was subject matter of challenge in the case of Indus Towers Limited vs. State of Gujarat in Special Civil Application No.1898 of 2009 and other cognate matters. By judgment of even date rendered in Special Civil Application No.1898 of 2009, this Court has quashed the said resolution holding that in absence of any statutory provision permitting the respondents therein to impose installation charges and/or permission fees in respect of mobile towers, such levy was without authority of law and violative of Article 265 of the Constitution of India. The ratio of the said decision would also be applicable to the present cases. 9. IN view of the above discussion, the petitions succeed. For the reasons stated in the case of Reliance Communications Limited v. Junagadh Municipal Corporation (supra) as well as in the order of even date rendered in Special Civil Application No.1898 of 2009 and cognate matters, these petitions are allowed. 9. IN view of the above discussion, the petitions succeed. For the reasons stated in the case of Reliance Communications Limited v. Junagadh Municipal Corporation (supra) as well as in the order of even date rendered in Special Civil Application No.1898 of 2009 and cognate matters, these petitions are allowed. The impugned letter/demand notices which are subject matter of challenge in the respective petitions are hereby quashed and set aside. Rule is made absolute in each of the petitions with no order as to costs. 10. REGISTRY is directed to place a copy of this judgment in each petition.