Land under construction remains rateable for municipal tax where the statute still permits annual letting value assessment.

Land being built upon does not lose its rateable character under the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act during construction, because the statute defines land broadly and requires assessment by annual letting value. The court held that no separate exempt category exists for land under construction, and the English doctrine of sterility cannot be used to defeat a levy where the statute itself provides no such exemption. As no completed portion was capable of occupation or letting, the area could be treated like vacant land for rating purposes, but it remained assessable. The challenge to the municipal valuation therefore failed and the assessment was restored.

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Issues: Whether land on which a building is under construction ceases to be rateable for municipal taxation until the building is completed.

Analysis: The Act defines "land" broadly enough to include land being built upon, and the charging and valuation provisions direct assessment by reference to annual letting value. The statutory scheme distinguishes between vacant land and land built upon, but it does not create a third category of land which is under construction and therefore immune from rating. The doctrine of sterility, developed in English law on a beneficial occupation basis, cannot be imported to defeat a levy under a statute that rates land by reference to its value to the owner and its annual letting value. So long as no completed portion is capable of occupation and letting, land under construction may be treated for rating purposes on the same footing as vacant land, but it does not cease to be assessable altogether.

Conclusion: Land under construction remains rateable and does not become exempt from municipal rating merely because construction is in progress.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the assessment of the area under construction failed, and the municipal valuation was restored on the footing that the land remained liable to rating.

Ratio Decidendi: Under the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, land being built upon does not lose rateable character during construction; the assessment must still proceed on annual letting value, and the doctrine of sterility has no application to create an exemption not found in the statute.

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