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TMI Blog1977 (8) TMI 178X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al Committee assessed the building to house-tax for the years 1963-64, 1964-65, 1965-66, 1966-67and 1967-68 on the basis of actual rent received by the L.I.C.The L.I.C. paid the tax as assessed for these years but in February 1968 it received five notices from the Municipal Committee stating, that in exercise of the powers conferred by s. 67 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 3 of 1911, it had decided by a resolution dated January 27, 1968 to amend the lists of assessment for the aforesaid five years by including therein the rent of a portion of the basement of the building which had escaped inclusion in the respective lists. In June 1968, the L.I.C. filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court praying that the aforesaid resolutions of the Municipal Committee be quashed and that it be restrained from realising the additional tax which it proposed to levy under its resolution, on the ground that it had no jurisdiction under s. 67 of the Act to amend the assessment lists of previous years. In view of the importance of the question, the writ petition was referred for decision to a full bench of the High Court. The High Court has held that the assessment lists settled under s. 66 of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... determine, or in the case of a tax then imposed for the first time for the period between the date on which the tax comes into force and such first day of January or April, as the case may be. (2)The list when amended under this section shall be deposited in the committee's office and shall there be open during office hours to all owners or occupiers of property 'comprised therein or the authorized agents of such persons, and a public notice that it is so open shall forthwith be published. 67.(1) The committee may at any time amend the list inserting the name of any person whose name ought to have been or ought to be inserted or by inserting any property which ought to have been or ought to be inserted, or by altering the assessment on any property which has been erroneously valued or assessed through fraud, accident or mistake, whether on the, part of the committee or of the assessee, or in the case of a tax payable by the occupier by a change in the tenancy, after giving notice to any person affected by the amendment, of a time, not less than one month from the date of service, at which the amendment is, to be made. (2)Any person interested in any such ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Act which we have to construe in these appeals. In the first place, the Municipal Committee has the undoubted power under s. 67 to amend an assessment list at any time. The width of this power may justifiably be curtailed by reading the expression at any time to mean within a reasonable time as was canvassed in Punjab National Bank v. New Delhi Municipal Committee(1) but the question of reasonableness does not arise in this case and was not (1) [1973]3 S.C.R. 189,193, raised in the High Court. Tin point of importance is that the Committee's power to amend an assessment list is not limited by the consideration that the list has already become final by authentication. It has the power to amend a list even after it is finalised and has already come into force. That is the important effect and implication of the expression at any time , which cannot be overlooked. Assessment lists relating to property tax are generally finalised by authentication before the 31st of March and are made operative from the ensuing 1st of April to the following 31st of March. In exercise of the power conferred by s. 67, the Committee can amend a list even after the 31st of March, despite the f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat be true, we are unable to understand that the assessee, the L.I.C. here, could in face of s. 67 raise a contention that the assessment lists of past years, thou faulty, cannot now be corrected. The Municipal Committee has to find funds, within the limits of its authority, for discharging its statutory obligations. But the argument is that if, through mistake or oversight, or even due to fraud, a property has escaped assessment, the mistake cannot be corrected retrospectively and the fraud has to be suffered except in regard to a correction limited to the ensuing year. This is denying to the expression at any time even its plain, grammatical meaning, quite apart from ignoring the context in which it occurs and the beneficent purpose of its incorporation. The expression must, in our opinion, be given its full force and effect which requires the recognition of the. Committee's power to amend an assessment list even after the expiry of the following the one in which the list was finalised by due authentication. Sections 66 and 67 have to be read as two integral parts of a scheme which the legislature has prescribed for preparation, assessment and amendment of assessment li ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iefly that if any property is erroneously valued or assessed through fraud, accident or mistake, the prescribed authority may amend the assessment already made and thereupon the amended assessment list shall be deemed to have been amended with effect from the first day of January, or April, or July, or October nextfollowing the month in which the order of amendment is passed. Section 68A does not deal with cases in which a property has escapedassessment altogether. It deals with that limited class of cases in which a property has been included in the assessment list but has been erroneously valued or assessed. In such cases of erroneous valuation or assessment, the amendments made in the assessment lists have no retrospective operation with the result that valuation or assessment already made, though erroneous, remains valid for the past years. Amendments falling within s. 68A operate in the future and can be effective only from the dates mentioned in the section and not from any earlier point of time. A comparison of the provisions of s. 68A with those of s. 67 shows that the words of limitation contained in the former section as regards the time from which an amendment can come i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gly gave some retrospective effect to the impugned amendments. It has declared that the amendment made in January 1967 will be effective for the year 1966-67 and that made in February 1968 will be effective for the year 1967-68. Consistently with its reasoning, it should have held that the two amendments would be effective for the years 1967-68 and 1968-69 respectively, each year commencing on April 1 and ending with March 31. But that, as we said, is not relevant. The decision of this Court in Punjab National Bank (supra) on which counsel for the L.I.C. relies does not support the view contended for by him. In that case a building belonging to the Punjab National Bank was not entered in the assessment list which was to be operative for the period April 1, 1958 to March 31, 1959. That list was amended on December 21, 1959. The only point that arose for consideration in the appeal, as is expressly mentioned by Mathew, J., in his judgment, was whether the Municipal Committee was entitled to include the building in the assessment list which was operative from April 1, 1959 to March 31, 1960 by amending it in December 1959. Repelling the Bank's contention that the list once fina ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent does not touch the points in controversy before US. Nor indeed can any assistance be derived from the interpretation put on s. 82 (3) of the Bombay Act in that case. contemplates, inter alia, amendments or alterations (i) Those in regard to buildings constructed, altered, constructed and (ii) those in regard to other cases. first category, sec. 82(3) of the Bombay Municipal provides that the amendment or alteration shall have That provision in two cases : added to or oreAs regards the Boroughs Act the same effect as if it had been made in the case of a building constructed, altered, added to or reconstructed on the day on which such construction, alteration, addition or reconstruction was completed or on the day on which the new construction, alteration, addition or reconstruction was first occupied, whichever first occurs. As regards the second category, namely the other cases , the alteration takes effect as if it had been made on the earliest day in the current official year on which the circumstances justifying the entry or alteration existed. The discussion of this sub-section at page 890 of the report is in respect of the second category of cases in regard to which th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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