9911796707
TMI Blog1976 (3) TMI 232X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Chief Officer of the Municipal Borough prepared an assessment list for the official year 1951-52 containing revised valuation and assessment of the lands and buildings situated within the limits of the Municipal Borough and published it on 1st May, 1951 in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The respondents and several other rate-payers filed their objections against the valuation and assessment in the assessment list and consequent on the decisions on the objections, modifications were made in the assessment list and the assessment list so finalised was authenticated on 24th July, 1952. Since the authentication of the assessment list was made after the expiry of the official year, the respondents and other rate-payers took the view that the assessment list was void and inoperative and the Municipal Borough was not entitled to recover property tax at the revised rates which were higher than the rates charged in the previous official years. It seems, however, that from a few persons, whose names do not appear in the record property tax in accordance with the revised rates was collected by the Municipal Borough. There was consequently an agitation amongst the rate-payers and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the official year, it did not have the effect of invalidating the assessment list. The Trial Court negatived the plea of limitation based on s. 206A of the Act and so far as the merits were concerned, held that since the authentication of the assessment list was admittedly made beyond the expiry of the official year, the assessment list was void and inoperative and the Municipal Borough was not entitled to levy and collect property tax at the revised rates on the strength of such assessment list. The Municipal Borough, being aggrieved by this decision, filed an appeal to the District Court, but the appeal was unsuccessful and a second appeal to the High Court also failed. Hence the present appeal by the Municipal Borough with special leave obtained from this Court. The principal contention that was urged before us on behalf of the Municipal Borough was that on a true construction of the relevant provisions of the Act, the authentication of the assessment list, in client to impose liability to tax for the official year even if it is made the official year to which the assessment list relates and it is sufficient to impose liability to tax for the official year even if it is made a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... consequences and they are set out in sub-s. (6) which reads as follows: "(6) Subject to such alterations as may be made therein under the provisions of section 82 and to the result of any appeal or revision made under sec. 110, the entries in the assessment-list so authenticated and deposited and the entries, if any, inserted in the said list under the provisions of sec. 82 shall be accepted as conclusive evidence- (1) . . . . . (ii) for the purposes of the rate for which such assessment-list has been prepared, of the amount of the rate liable on such buildings or lands or both buildings and land in any official year in which such list is in force." section 82 then provides for amendment of assessment list in certain cases. This section is rather material and it may be reproduced in full: "82. (1) The standing committee may at any time alter the assessment-list by inserting or altering an entry in respect of any property, such entry having been omitted from or erroneously made in the assessment-list through fraud, accident or mistake or in respect of any building constructed altered, added to or reconstructed in whole or in part, where such construction, altera ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... This may be done before the commencement of the official year or even thereafter in the course of the official year. Then objections are invited and when made, they are disposed of and amendments consequential upon the decisions on the objections are carried out in the assessment list. The assessment list is then authenticated. The process of assessment and levy of the tax which begins with the preparation of the provisional assessment list is thus completed when the assessment list is authenticated. The assessment list, when authenticated, becomes effective from the first day of the official year and gives rise to the liability to pay tax. It is on the authentication of the assessment list that the liability of the rate-payers to pay tax arises and the tax is levied on the rate-payers. This position would seem to be clear as a matter of plain interpretation and in any event there is a long line of decisions of the Bombay High Court commencing from Sholapur Municipality v. Governor General(1) and ending has Sholapur Municipal Corporation v. Ramchandra(2) which has consistently accepted this position and the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Municipal Borough did not disput ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng this provision is that in respect or each official year, there would be an authenticated assessment list before the close of that official year, so that the valuation and assessment contained in it can be adopted by the Chief Officer for the immediately following year. Otherwise, it would not be possible for the Chief Officer to adopt the valuation and assessment of the preceding official year and he would have to prepare a new provisional assessment list every time when the assessment list for the preceding year is not finalised and authenticated and this might lead to the rather startling result of there being several provisional assessment lists for different official years in the process of finalisation at the same time. We should be slow to accept an interpretation which might lead to such a strange consequence. Then again considerable light on this question is thrown by the provision enacted in s. 82. It is a well settled rule of interpretation that the Court is "entitled and indeed bound, when construing the terms of any provision found in a statute, to consider any other parts of the Act which throw light on the intention of the legislature, and which may serve to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... liability in the rate-payer, must also be authenticated before the expiry of the official year. Moreover, it is difficult to behave that the legislature did not intend that there should be any time limit in regard to the levy of tax for an official year and that the tax should be legally leviable at any time after the close of the official year. There is, in our opinion, sufficient indication in the various provisions of the Act to show that the authentication of the assessment list, in order to be valid and effective, must be made within the official year, though the tax so levied may be collected and recovered even after the expiry of the official year. We may point out that the Karnataka High Court is not alone in taking this view the present case. This view has been consistently taken by the Bombay High Court in a series of decisions over the years and it has also been followed by the Gujarat High Court. When we find that three High Courts having jurisdiction over the territories in which the Act is in force have all taken this view over a course of years, we do not think we would be justified in departing from it, merely on the ground that a different view is possible. This C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Municipal Borough based on s. 206A. That section provides inter alia that no suit shall lie against a municipality or against any officer or servant of any municipality in respect of any act done in pursuance or execution or intended execution of the Act, or in respect of any alleged neglect or default in the execution of the Act, unless it is commenced within six months next after the accrual of the cause of action. The argument of the Municipal Borough was that the cause of action for the suit arose in favour of the respondents and other rate-payers on 24th July, 1952 when the assessment list was authenticated and since the suit was not filed within six months from that date, it was barred by limitation under s.206A. This argument is plainly unsustainable. The assessment list being authenticated on 24th July, 1952, after the expiry of the official year 1951-52, was void and inoperative and the respondents and other rate-payers were entitled to ignore it as a nullity. It is only when the Municipal Borough sought to recover the amount of tax from them on the strength of the assessment list, that it became necessary for them to challenge the validity of the assessment list with a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
