Municipal tax assessment fails where jurisdiction over the property is not proved, and declaratory relief remains available.

A municipal tax assessment failed because the authorities did not establish that the mills lay within the municipal limits; the notification, map and inspection sketch relied on were insufficient, and the factual finding that the mills were outside the area was sustained. The suit for declaration and injunction was also held not to be barred by Section 377 of the Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act, because that bar applied only to suits arising from tortious acts and did not cover a challenge to an allegedly illegal assessment and recovery. The assessment challenge therefore succeeded, and the decree in favour of the plaintiff was maintained with costs.

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Issues: (i) Whether the mills were situated within the municipal limits so as to sustain the tax assessment; (ii) Whether the suit for declaration and injunction was barred by Section 377 of the Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act.

Issue (i): Whether the mills were situated within the municipal limits so as to sustain the tax assessment.

Analysis: The municipal authorities failed to produce the notification constituting the municipality, the municipal map, or the sketch map said to have been prepared after inspection. The notification relied upon only defined ward boundaries under the provision empowering division into wards, and the boundary description did not support the case that the mills lay within the municipal area. On the evidence, no reason was found to differ from the courts below on the factual finding.

Conclusion: The mills were held to be outside the municipal limits, so the assessment could not be sustained on that basis.

Issue (ii): Whether the suit for declaration and injunction was barred by Section 377 of the Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act.

Analysis: The statutory bar was confined to suits arising out of tortious acts and did not extend to a suit seeking a declaration that the assessment was illegal and an injunction against recovery. A suit of that nature was treated as outside the scope of the bar provision.

Conclusion: The suit was not barred by Section 377 of the Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act.

Final Conclusion: The assessment challenge succeeded, and the decree in favour of the plaintiff was left undisturbed with costs against the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: A declaratory and injunctive suit challenging an illegal municipal tax assessment is not barred by a provision limited to tortious acts, and the assessment cannot stand where the municipal authority fails to establish that the property lies within its jurisdiction.

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