Property tax on let land with tenant-built structures is primarily recoverable from the landowner, not the tenant.

Under the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, property tax on land let to a tenant who erects a building on it is assessed on a composite basis, with land and superstructure treated together. The statutory scheme places primary liability on the lessor in a let property, except in the special case covered by the provision for land let for more than one year and built upon by the tenant. Long-standing municipal practice of assessing the property against the landowner was treated as a relevant aid to interpretation under contemporanea exposito, confirming that primary liability lies on the landowner rather than the tenant.

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Issues: Whether, under the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, property tax on land let to a tenant who has erected a building thereon is primarily leviable from the landowner or from the tenant.

Analysis: The statutory scheme treated premises as a composite unit where land and the building erected on it could be assessed together. The provisions governing primary liability showed that, except in the special case covered by the provision dealing with land let for a term exceeding one year and built upon by the tenant, the liability in a let property fell on the lessor. The provisions relating to recovery and assessment supported this construction, as did the long-standing municipal practice of assessing the land and superstructure together against the owner of the land. The Court also applied the principle of contemporanea exposito, holding that the settled administrative practice was a relevant aid where the statutory language was uncertain.

Conclusion: The primary liability for property tax was on the landowner, not the tenant.

Ratio Decidendi: Where land is let and the tenant erects a structure on it, the property tax may be assessed as a composite unit and, unless the case falls within the special statutory exception, primary liability lies on the lessor of the land; long-standing contemporaneous administrative construction may confirm that interpretation.

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