9911796707
TMI Blog1990 (10) TMI 287X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Nadu Urban Land Tax Act, 1966 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), where under the first respondent assessed the writ petitioner who is the official liquidator of Gannon Dunkerley and Co. (Madras) Ltd. to a tax of Rs. 47,112.50 for each Fasli commencing from Fasli 1385, in respect of urban lands measuring about 276.0662 sq. ft. and 80,170 sq. ft. in T. S. Nos. 34 and 3756/1 of block 74 of Sembiam and Mylapore villages, which stand registered in the name of the said Gannon Dunkerley and Co. (Madras) Ltd., which is at present under liquidation. Aggrieved against the said order of assessment, the writ petitioner has preferred an appeal before the second respondent-Tribunal and, by an order dated dated January 7, 1982, the second respondent- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Tamil Nadu Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1978, and, if the lands are ultimately to vest with the Government, there is no justification to saddle the company with the liability for tax under the Act in respect of the very same properties; and (5)Regarding the market value fixed, the authorities have not taken into account the offer made by the Government to take the properties at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per ground. According to learned counsel for the petitioner, the value now arrived at cannot be sustained in the light of the said offer, made by the Government itself. Mr. R. Lokapriya, the learned Government advocate, while refuting the contentions raised by learned counsel for the petitioner, submits that the company under l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Companies Act, no shareholder can say what extent of interest he has in the assets of the company and the shareholding cannot be the foundation for evaluating such an interest in the company itself. While coming to such a conclusion and considering the decision of the Supreme Court in Bacha F. Guzdar v. CIT [1955] 25 Comp. Cas. 1 ; [1955] 1 MLJ 27; the learned judge expressed the view that there is no assumption that a shareholder who buys shares buys any interest in the property of the company and that the true position of a shareholder is that, on buying shares, he becomes entitled to participate in the profits of the company in which he holds the shares, as and when such dividends were declared, and his right to participate in th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tent court. It is only thereafter that the company can be said to become non-existent in the eye of law. Consequently, the submission of learned counsel for the petitioner in this regard fails and the petitioner cannot wriggle out of its liability under the Act in respect of the properties in question. So far as the provisions of section 2(10) of the Act are concerned, it defines "owner", for the purpose of the Act, in the following terms : " 'owner' includes ( i )any person (including a mortgagee in possession) for the time being receiving or entitled to receive, whether on his own account or as agent, trustee, guardian, manager or receiver for another person or for any religious or charitable purposes, the rent or profits of the ur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e juristic personality of the company is not lost, the submission that the properties cannot be treated as a single unit of the company under liquidation merits no consideration. This point also fails and is rejected. So far as the plea raised, based on the Tamil Nadu Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act is concerned, it merits no serious consideration, since till such time as a notification under section 11(3) of the Act is issued and published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, no divesting of the title of the company in the properties takes place and the right, title and interest do not vest in the Government and till such time, the liability of the company under the Tamil Nadu Urban Land Tax Act in respect of the tax due therein ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
