Municipal assessment law: civil court review survives where the levy is ultra vires, and taxable salary is taken in full.

A civil court may interfere with a municipal assessment where the challenge is that the authority acted beyond statutory power or in contravention of the Act; it cannot be excluded by a mere bar against objections to assessment when the complaint goes to jurisdiction. Under section 85 of the Bengal Municipal Act, the reference to a person's "circumstances and property within the Municipality" was construed to permit assessment on the full salary received within municipal limits, not merely on the amount actually spent there. The provision was not read as limiting tax to local expenditure or requiring deductions for personal or family outgoings. The municipal assessment was therefore treated as within statutory power.

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Issues: (i) Whether a civil court can interfere with a municipal assessment that is challenged as being ultra vires and contrary to the statutory scheme; (ii) Whether, under section 85 of the Bengal Municipal Act, a tax on a person occupying a holding within the municipality is to be assessed on the salary earned within the municipality in full or only on the amount spent within municipal limits.

Issue (i): Whether a civil court can interfere with a municipal assessment that is challenged as being ultra vires and contrary to the statutory scheme.

Analysis: The bar against objections to assessment in the Act does not exclude civil court jurisdiction where the municipal authority has acted beyond its statutory powers. A distinction was drawn between an erroneous exercise of jurisdiction within power and an act done in excess of or in contravention of the authority conferred by the statute. An assessment that is jurisdictionally defective or ultra vires remains open to challenge, including by way of defence in a suit for recovery of the tax.

Conclusion: The civil court had jurisdiction to examine the legality of the assessment, but only on the footing that the challenge went to the municipality's power and not to a mere error within jurisdiction.

Issue (ii): Whether, under section 85 of the Bengal Municipal Act, a tax on a person occupying a holding within the municipality is to be assessed on the salary earned within the municipality in full or only on the amount spent within municipal limits.

Analysis: The phrase "circumstances and property within the Municipality" was construed as referring to the assessee's means and property as a whole, not merely to the portion of income physically spent inside municipal boundaries. The section was not read as confining taxation to expenditure within the municipality or as requiring deductions for personal outgoings, debts, or family expenses. The statutory language was held to support assessment on the full salary received within the municipality.

Conclusion: The assessment on the full salary was valid, and the tax was not limited to the amount spent within the municipality.

Final Conclusion: The municipal assessment was upheld as within statutory power, and the decree below was modified accordingly in favour of the municipality.

Ratio Decidendi: A municipal tax assessment is open to civil court interference only when it is ultra vires or jurisdictionally defective, and under a taxing provision assessed by reference to "circumstances and property," the taxable base is not confined to the amount spent within the municipality unless the statute expressly so provides.

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