Municipal valuation must follow annual rent basis, not construction cost, where the statute fixes house-rate on annual value.

Under the Calcutta Municipal Consolidation Act, 1876, house-rate had to be assessed on the property's annual value, meaning the estimated gross annual rent it might reasonably fetch from year to year. The Commissioners instead based valuation on a surveyor's estimate derived from a percentage of the cost of the building and land. That method departed from the statutory standard and was therefore outside their powers. The assessment was held to be beyond jurisdiction, and certiorari lay to quash it; the appeal succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the municipal Commissioners, in assessing a house-rate under the Calcutta Municipal Consolidation Act, 1876, acted within their powers when they adopted a valuation based on the cost of construction instead of the gross annual rent at which the property might reasonably be expected to let from year to year.

Analysis: The statutory scheme required the rate to be imposed on the annual value of the property. Section 104 defined that annual value as the estimated gross annual rent at which the house or land might reasonably be expected to let from year to year, and the relevant provisions had to be read together with the charging section. The Commissioners, however, adopted their own surveyor's assessment founded on a percentage of the estimated cost of the building and land, notwithstanding the statutory basis of valuation. That approach departed from the legal standard prescribed by the Act and therefore was not a permissible method of assessment.

Conclusion: The assessment was made beyond jurisdiction, and certiorari lay to quash it. The appeal succeeded.

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