Conclusive notification for municipal tax upheld where it only finalised procedural compliance within the legislative taxing scheme.

A statutory provision treating municipal notification as conclusive proof of lawful tax imposition was upheld because it operated only to finalise compliance with the prescribed procedural safeguards and did not extend the levy beyond the Legislature's taxing power. The Court held that sections 131 to 135 created a complete scheme of consultation, objection, approval and notification, so section 135(3) did not amount to excessive delegation, unconstitutional discrimination, or an impermissible conferral of judicial power on the executive. On that construction, the municipal tax was validly imposed and the challenge to the levy failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the notification provision in section 135(3) of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 barred judicial inquiry into compliance with the procedural requirements for imposition of a municipal tax and whether that provision was invalid for excessive delegation and discrimination.

Analysis: The majority held that the taxing power was conferred by the Legislature but exercised through the municipal board subject to statutory safeguards and State supervision. The expression making the notification conclusive proof was read as final only on compliance with the procedural steps for imposing a tax, and not as authorising a tax outside the taxing powers granted by the Act. The Court further held that the safeguards in sections 131 to 135 provided a complete scheme of consultation, objection, approval and notification, and that section 135(3) did not amount to excessive delegation, did not create unconstitutional discrimination, and did not confer judicial power on the executive. The dissenting opinion took the view that section 135(3) wiped out the procedural safeguards and, on that construction, amounted to excessive delegation and was severable from the rest of the scheme.

Conclusion: Section 135(3) was upheld and the tax was treated as validly imposed notwithstanding the procedural objections.

Final Conclusion: The municipal tax notification was sustained and the challenge to the levy failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory provision making governmental notification conclusive proof of lawful imposition of a delegated municipal tax is valid where it operates only to finalise compliance with the prescribed procedural safeguards and does not authorise a levy outside the taxing power conferred by the Legislature.

---