Pre-deposit condition for municipal tax appeals upheld as a valid statutory restriction on fiscal appellate rights.

A statutory right of appeal in a fiscal matter may validly be made subject to pre-deposit of the amount lawfully payable, because appeal is created and regulated by statute rather than being an inherent right. The Calcutta Municipal Act provision requiring deposit and continued deposit of consolidated rate before an appeal could be entertained was held not arbitrary, not inconsistent with the Act, and not violative of Article 14. It was read prospectively after the 1976 amendment, construed to mean the amount lawfully payable, and treated as neither creating a new liability nor making the appellate remedy illusory.

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Issues: Whether section 183(3-A) of the Calcutta Municipal Act, 1951, requiring deposit and continued deposit of consolidated rate as a precondition to the entertainment of an appeal, was arbitrary, unreasonable, repugnant to the scheme of the Act, or violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: The right of appeal is not an inherent or natural right but one created and regulated by statute, and the legislature is competent to impose conditions for its exercise. In the context of a taxing or rating statute, a condition requiring deposit of the amount payable cannot be struck down merely because it is onerous. The provision was construed as applying prospectively after the 1976 amendment, and the expression "consolidated rate payable" was read harmoniously to mean the amount lawfully payable by the appellant under the Act. The deposit requirement did not create a new liability, did not render the appeal illusory, and was supported by the availability of refund or adjustment under section 207(2). The Court also found no inconsistency with the other provisions governing assessment, liability, payment, and recovery of consolidated rates.

Conclusion: Section 183(3-A) was upheld as valid and constitutional, and the challenge based on Article 14 and inconsistency with the Act failed.

Final Conclusion: The deposit condition for entertaining an appeal against valuation under the Calcutta Municipal Act was sustained, and the rule was discharged.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory right of appeal in a fiscal matter may validly be conditioned on pre-deposit of the amount lawfully payable, and such a condition is not unconstitutional merely because it is burdensome or operates as a restriction on access to the appellate forum.

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