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TMI Blog1941 (1) TMI 8X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r a sum of ₹ 48-4-0 on account of house and water taxes due for the period from 1st April 1931 to 31st May 1932. The house in respect of which these taxes were due had been purchased by Ramji Lal at a court sale in execution of a decree obtained by him against Abdullah, the former owner of the house. The auction took place in March 1932, and the sale to Ramji Lal was confirmed in May 1932. The defence put forward by Ramji Lal was that he was not liable to pay these taxes as they were due for a period prior to his purchase. This defence was not accepted either by the trial Court or by the learned Subordinate Judge in first appeal. It was however allowed by Zia-ul-Hasan J. in second appeal. Zia-ul-Hasan J. first referred to S. 177, U.P. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... se questions in the negative. He pointed out that in the bye-laws of the Lucknow Municipal Board house and water taxes are payable in advance, and the Municipalities Act gives very wide powers to Municipal Boards for their recovery. He thought that in view of these provisions, it should be very seldom that any taxes should fall in arrears. He therefore did not consider that it was incumbent on a would-be purchaser to make any enquiry about arrears holding that it would be stretching the doctrine of constructive notice too far to say that in every case in which a person wants to bid for property liable to municipal taxes he ought to make inquiries, before making a bid, whether any municipal taxes are outstanding against the property. Referen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on sales. Section 100 can therefore have no application to the case of an execution decree, and it is not necessary that the purchaser should have had notice of the charge. Learned counsel conceded that this view had been dissented from in the following year by another Bench of the Allahabad High Court, namely in 3. ('40) 27 AIR 1940 All 456 : 191 IC 148 : ILR (1940) All 669 : 1940 ALJ 560, Municipal Board, Cawnpore v. Roop Chand. In this case it was observed that the amendment to S. 100introduced no change in the law as it stood before the amendment. It was held that s. 100 applies to transfers by auction sale in execution of decrees and therefore a bona fide purchaser takes property he buys free of all charges of which he has had no n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e held to have constructive notice of that charge inasmuch as a prudent purchaser would, in ordinary course, search the registers before effecting the purchase. There is no register, so far as we know, of arrears of taxes or of charges in respect thereof. It has not been shown that the Municipality of Cawnpore intimate to the public in the 'Press' or by other publication a list of the properties which are charged in respect of arrears of taxes. There is nothing upon the record to justify the conclusion that the defendants could have demanded any information from the municipality in regard to charges on immovable property within the municipal limits. 6. It has not been suggested in the present case that the respondent could not have ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ave not been paid in the ordinary course in the absence of any special intimation by the Municipality. If there has been negligence in the present instance it has been on the part of the Corporation of Cawnpore. They should have taken steps long ago to recover the arrears of taxes from defendant 1 and they certainly should have taken steps to intimate and proclaim at the auction sale to intending purchasers that they held a charge over the property in respect of these arrears. 7. With the greatest respect we are unable to accept this view. In our opinion, the question is not whether an intending purchaser is bound to presume that the taxes have not been paid, but whether he is entitled to presume that they have been paid. We do not think t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rge has been expressly imposed in the Municipalities Act upon property for the payment of municipal taxes, the municipality is entitled to follow the property in the hands of a transferee who has not cared to make any enquiry as to whether payment of the taxes is in arrears. We have considered the Calcutta case already referred to, ('15) 2 AIR 1915 Cal 478: 27 IC 261 : 42 Cal 625 : 21 CLJ 177 : 19 CWN 37, Akshoy Kumar v. Corporation of Calcutta and we do not think that there is sufficient reason for distinguishing that case from the case under consideration. Zia-ul-Hasan J. observed that we do not know whether the Calcutta Municipalities Act that was in force at the time the ruling was made was or was not similar in its provisions to th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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