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TMI Blog2025 (2) TMI 736X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he petitioner in terms of Section 184 of Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 which provides appeal against any notice of demand issued under subsection (1) of section 174, without availing such efficacious alternative remedy, there is no reasonable justification to the petitioner to directly approach the High Court. HELD THAT:- Petitioner No. 3/educational institution continuously raised the objection, the said institution is under the exempted category under Section under Section 136 (c) of Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 and there is a specific procedure if any such objection has been raised about the valuation of the property tax that the Commissioner shall give a notice in writing to the objector of the time and place at which his objection will be investigated and after giving the opportunity of personal hearing to the objector, any such objection has been determined, when a query has been put to the learned Senior Counsel, from the record, it is explicit that no such procedure has been followed, though the legislature in clear terms mandated to fix the time and place to hear the objection. This Court finds appropriate to direct the competent authority/Respondent No. 1/ Commissi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... payment of property tax and other educational institutions may be given a rebate of up to fifty per cent of the property tax. If the petitioner No. 3 runs the institution under the aegis of petitioner No. 1, which is a registered charitable trust and also exempted under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, so the petitioner No. 3/ educational institution shall be wholly exempted. For the sake of brevity, the said provision of Section 136 (c) of Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 reads as under:- "...136(c) educational institution of Government of India, State Government, Municipal Corporations, registered Charitable Trusts, educational institutions registered under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, shall be wholly exempted and other educational institutions may be given a rebate of upto fifty percent of the property tax as assessed by the Corporation in accordance with norms that may be prescribed by the State Government; '' 3. Learned Senior Counsel would further submit that petitioner No. 3 has also filed the return in the same PAN number, which was used by petitioner No. 1 and the same is accepted by the Income Tax Authority and meaning thereby, petitioner No. 3/edu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ling order of the Tribunal dated 1st August, 2019 under its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution without exhausting the statutory right of appeal available at its command. 35. This Court in the judgment in United Bank of India vs. Satyawati Tondon & Others, was concerned with the argument of alternative remedy provided under the SARFAESI Act, 2002 and dealing with the argument of alternative remedy, this Court had observed that where an effective remedy is available to an aggrieved person, the High Court ordinarily must insist that before availing the remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution, the alternative remedy available under the relevant statute must be exhausted. Paras 43, 44 and 45 of the said judgment are relevant for the purpose and are extracted below: "43. Unfortunately, the High Court overlooked the settled law that the High Court will ordinarily not entertain a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution if an effective remedy is available to the aggrieved person and that this rule applies with greater rigour in matters involving recovery of taxes, cess, fees, other types of public money and the dues of banks and other financial institutions ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... position, she would rely upon the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the matter of Narayan Chandra Ghosh vs. Uco Bank and others 2011 (4) SCC 548, and the relevant para is 8, which reads as under:- "8. It is well settled that when a statute confers a right of appeal, while granting the right, the legislature can impose conditions for the exercise of such right, so long as the conditions are not so onerous as to amount to unreasonable restrictions, rendering the right almost illusory. Bearing in mind the object of the Act, the conditions hedged in the said proviso cannot be said to be onerous. Thus, we hold that the requirement of pre-deposit under sub-section (1) of Section 18 of the Act is mandatory and there is no reason whatsoever for not giving full effect to the provisions contained in Section 18 of the Act. In that view of the matter, no court, much less the Appellate Tribunal, a creature of the Act itself, can refuse to give full effect to the provisions of the statute. We have no hesitation in holding that deposit under the second proviso to Section 18 (1) of the Act being a condition precedent for preferring an appeal under the said section, the Appellate Tribunal had err ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is a specific procedure if any such objection has been raised about the valuation of the property tax that the Commissioner shall give a notice in writing to the objector of the time and place at which his objection will be investigated and after giving the opportunity of personal hearing to the objector, any such objection has been determined, when a query has been put to the learned Senior Counsel, from the record, it is explicit that no such procedure has been followed, though the legislature in clear terms mandated to fix the time and place to hear the objection. 9. The said provision of Section 148 of Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as '1956 Act') is reproduced hereinbelow for ready reference as under:- "148. Investigation of objections by Commissioner- (1) All such objections shall be entered in a register to be maintained for the purpose and, on receipt of any objection, the Commissioner shall give a notice in writing to the objector of the time and place at which his objection will be investigated. (2) At the time and place so fixed the Commissioner shall hear the objection, in the presence of the objector or his authorized agent if he appear ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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