Municipal house tax demand fails where objections are not decided and statutory school exemption is ignored.

A house tax demand could not stand where the assessee's objections to the levy remained undecided, because a municipal demand must follow due adjudication of the objection and comply with the statutory exemption for buildings used solely as schools and intermediate colleges under Section 177(c) of the U.P. Municipal Corporation Adhiniyam 1959. The later order relied on by the municipality was insufficient because it dealt only with annual value and did not decide the tax objection itself. The house tax bill was therefore quashed as authority of law.

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Issues: Whether a house tax bill raised without deciding the assessee's objections to the assessment and in the light of the statutory exemption for buildings solely used as schools and intermediate colleges could be sustained.

Analysis: The petitioners had challenged the proposed enhancement of annual value and house tax, and had filed objections which remained undecided. The respondents' reliance on a later order was found misplaced because that order only determined the annual value and did not decide the objection to levy of house tax. The statutory exemption under Section 177(c) of the U.P. Municipal Corporation Adhiniyam 1959, which excludes buildings solely used as schools and intermediate colleges from house tax, was relevant to the controversy. Since the objection relating to the tax levy itself was not adjudicated, the bill could not be treated as a valid demand.

Conclusion: The impugned house tax bill was quashed as being without authority of law.

Ratio Decidendi: A municipal tax demand cannot be sustained unless the objection to the levy is duly decided and the demand is made in conformity with the statutory exemption applicable to the property.

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